What Now?
by SciFiFanForever
Summary: The sequel to What If? that follows the Doctor and Rose through married life of season 4. It follows my in between and back story formats, and like the series, there are a couple of developing plot lines running through the story.
1. Voyage of the Damned Part One

**Chapter 1**

 **Voyage of the Damned Part One**

The Doctor lay back in the bath, enjoying the warmth and fragrance of the water. What he enjoyed more, was his wife resting back on top of him as they shared the bath. They had been separated for twelve months, while Rose travelled the world, priming the Archangel network for him to use against the Master.

For the last two days in the TARDIS, they had been in bed, and had not left each other's side, except to go to the bathroom and to bring their meals back to their bed. And, although they had been in bed, they hadn't slept much!

After two days of horizontal exercising, they had become a bit sweaty, and a bit smelly, so they had retired to the en suite bathroom to share a romantic bath together. Rose reached up behind her and stroked his cheek.

'Is the TARDIS gonna be all right after that paradox machine thing?' she asked him.

'Eventually, yeah. She's had two days to do a lot of the repairs herself. When I get dressed, I'll go and take the extrapolator shields off line so I can recalibrate them properly.'

Rose rolled over to face him. 'Not just yet though,' she said with a cheeky smile. She slid up his body and gave him a passionate kiss.

Later, the Doctor strolled around the console, making various adjustments to the settings as he looked up at the time rotor. He materialised the TARDIS into normal space so that he could take the extrapolator shields off line.

'Did he do much damage?' Rose asked as she came from their room.

'Nothing that can't be fixed,' he replied. 'As I said, the TARDIS has done most of it herself.'

'Clever girl,' Rose said, stroking the coral strut.

BARRRRRRPPP!

CRUNCH!

Rose screamed as they were suddenly thrown to the floor, as the TARDIS lurched sideways under the impact of a collision, debris flew across the room.

'What?!' he said as he held on to the console.

BARRRRRRPPP! The fog horn sounded again, as if in answer to his question.

'What?' Rose asked as she picked herself up off the floor. The Doctor pulled himself upright. He could hear a ship's bell dinging from the bow of what appeared to be an ocean going liner that was sticking through the TARDIS's domed wall.

Rose noticed a piece of wreckage that appeared to be a large ring and reached for it, turning it over to read the name "Titanic". 'Doctor?'

He looked over to her and saw what she was holding. 'What?!' he asked in disbelief. He started manoeuvring the TARDIS out of the path of the vessel. The wall panels pulled together and the ship was slowly pushed back outside. He then set the controls, and materialised the TARDIS inside the ship.

Stepping outside, he had a quick look around, and noticed he had landed in a kind of store cupboard. Rose followed him out and they walked through a door into an opulent reception area of dark wood panelling, and brass fittings.

Diners dressed in expensive Edwardian clothing stood chatting and socialising; two golden robots dressed as angels, and . . . ooh, now that was something you didn't see every day, a small, spiky red Zocci from Sto in white tie and tails.

He led Rose over to a window and looked out. 'Righttttt,' he said slowly in realisation, as a voice made an announcement over the Tannoy.

['Attention all passengers. The Titanic is now in orbit above Sol Three, also known as Earth. Population, Human. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Christmas.']

'Is this for real?' Rose asked.

He gave her a grin. 'How about we find out? Come on, let's dress for dinner.'

Half an hour later, they stepped out of the TARDIS dressed to the nines in their evening wear. The Doctor was in his "Dinner Suit of Doom" as Rose called it, and was hoping that it didn't live up to its name. Rose was wearing her off the shoulder, burgundy dress that she had first worn in Cardiff in 1869.

They stopped at a wooden cabinet that had a screen in it that was playing a recording of a bald man with a thin moustache sitting behind a desk. ['Max Capricorn Cruiseliners. The fastest, the farthest, the best. And I should know because my name is Max.']

His gold tooth glinted in the light, before the screen returned to the logo, and a lady singer crooned Winter Wonderland.

'Merry Christmas, sir, madam,' a steward in a black naval uniform said.

'Merry Christmas,' they replied. Rose was hanging on the Doctor's arm and smiling. This was a brilliant way to spend Christmas, with no connections to Christmas's past. There were couples dancing to the music as they mingled.

They passed a man on his mobile phone. 'It's not a holiday for me, not while I've still got my vone. Now do as I say and sell.'

Arm in arm, the Doctor went up to one of the angels. 'Evening. Passengers fifty seven and fifty eight. Terrible memory. Remind me. You would be?'

['Information. Heavenly Host supplying tourist information.']

'Good, so, tell me, because I'm an idiot, where are we from?'

['Information. The Titanic is en route from the planet Sto in the Cassavalian Belt. The purpose of the cruise is to experience primitive cultures.']

'Oi! Who are you callin' primitive?' Rose asked irately.

The Doctor smiled and put his hand up in a shushing motion. 'Titanic. Who thought of the name?'

['Information. It was chosen as the most famous vessel of the planet Earth.']

'Blimey! Did they tell you why it was famous?' Rose asked.

['Information. All designations are chosen by Mr. Max Capricorn, president of Max, Max, Max...'] The Host twitched and its voice pitched higher. The steward noticed and hurried over.

'Ooh, bit of a glitch,' the Doctor said.

'More Max Headroom than Max Capricorn,' Rose quipped.

The steward raised his hand to call over a couple of other stewards. 'It's all right, sir, we can handle this.'

The two officers arrived and they switched off the Host before they carried it away. 'Software problem, that's all. Leave it with us, sir. Merry Christmas,' the steward said, before following his colleagues. 'That's another one down. What's going on with these things?'

The Doctor and Rose continued to stroll arm in arm, when they saw the man on his phone bumped into a little waitress, making her drop her tray of drinks.

'For Tov's sake, look where you're going. This jacket's a genuine Earth antique.'

'What an arsehole,' Rose whispered to the Doctor.

'I'm sorry, sir,' the diminutive blonde waitress said.

'You'll be sorry when it comes off your wages, Sweetheart. Staffed by idiots. No wonder Max Capricorn's going down the drain.'

The rude man left, and the Doctor and Rose stooped down to help her. 'Careful,' the Doctor warned, picking up some of the broken glass.

'There ya go,' Rose said, putting some glass stems on the tray.

'Thank you, miss, sir. I can manage.'

'I never said you couldn't,' he said with a smile. 'I'm the Doctor, by the way, and this is my wife, Rose.'

'Astrid, sir, ma'am. Astrid Peth.'

'Nice to meet you, Astrid Peth . . . Merry Christmas' he said with a charming smile.

'Merry Christmas,' echoed Rose.

'Merry Christmas,' Astrid replied. 'Are you enjoying the cruise?'

'Er, yeah, I suppose. I don't know,' the Doctor said, being a bit non committal.

'Oh, take no notice of him,' Rose laughed. 'We love travellin' and meetin' people. Are you enjoyin' travellin'?'

'Doesn't feel that different. I spent three years working at the spaceport diner, travelled all the way here and I'm still waiting on tables.'

'No shore leave?' the Doctor asked incredulously.

'We're not allowed. They can't afford the insurance. I just wanted to try it, just once. I used to watch the ships heading out to the stars and I always dreamt of. It sounds daft.'

'Oh that's not daft, that's what I've done,' Rose told her.

'You dreamt of another sky. New sun, new air, new life. A whole universe teeming with life. Why stand still when there're all that life out there?' the Doctor said poetically.

'Ah, that's beautiful,' Rose said.

'So, you travel a lot?'

'All the time,' he told her.

'Just for fun,' explained Rose.

'Welllll, that's the plan. Never quite works.'

'Must be rich, though,' Astrid suggested.

'Haven't got a penny. We're stowaways,' he told her.

'Kidding!'

'Seriously,' he said.

'No!'

'Oh, yeah. Except for a few quid in my savings account,' said Rose.

'How did you get on board?'

'Accident. we've got this, sort of, ship thing. I was just rebuilding her. Left the defences down. Bumped into the Titanic. Here we are. Bit of a party. We thought, why not?'

'I should report you,' Astrid warned them.

The Doctor grinned. 'Go on then.'

Astrid gave them a conspiratorial smile. 'I'll get you a drink on the house.'

Rose leaned towards him and spoke quietly. 'You mister, are a rogue.'

'Yeah, I know.' He waggled his eyebrows and smiled. 'But a lovable one.'

She kissed his cheek.' Can't argue with that.'

Over at another table, they noticed a bunch of toffs laughing at a large woman in a purple cowboy outfit and her equally well padded companion. The Doctor and Rose looked at each other knowingly.

'You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?' Rose asked.

He nodded and they decided to join them.

'Just ignore them,' the large, dark skinned man said.

The Doctor sat down at the table with Rose. 'Something's tickled them.'

'They told us it was fancy dress,' the large woman informed them. 'Very funny, I'm sure.'

'They're just picking on us because we haven't paid. We won our tickets in a competition.'

'I had to name the five husbands of Joofie Crystalle in By the Light of the Asteroid. Did you ever watch By the Light of the Asteroid?' the woman asked them.

'Is that the one with the twins?' Rose asked.

'That's it. Oh, it's marvellous.'

'But we're not good enough for that lot,' the man sneered. 'They think we should be in steerage.'

'Well, can't have that, can we?' the Doctor said as he took out his sonic screwdriver.

'What ya gonna do?' Rose whispered.

'Do you know what happens when you resonate compressed carbon dioxide gas?' With his back towards the toffs, the Doctor aimed his sonic screwdriver at the champagne bottle in the bucket on their table. The cork popped out, spraying their expensive clothes with alcohol.

'Did you do that?' the woman asked.

'Maybe,' he said, noncommittally.

'We like you,' she said.

'We do! I'm Morvin Van Hoff. This is my good woman, Foon,' the dark skinned man said.

'Foon. Hello, I'm the Doctor.'

'Rose,' Rose said holding out her hand to shake.

'Oh, I'm going to need a Doctor, time I've finished with that buffet. Have a buffalo wing. They must be enormous, these buffalo. So many wings.'

The tannoy made an announcement. ['Attention please. Shore leave tickets Red Six Seven now activated. Red Six Seven.']

Foon checked her ticket. 'Red Six Seven. That's us. Are you Red Six Seven?'

The Doctor gave her a cheeky smile. 'Might as well be.'

'Come on, then,' Morvin encouraged. 'We're going to Earth.'

'A man in a tweed suit was holding up a sign. 'Red Six Seven. Red Six Seven. This way, fast as you can.'

Astrid intercepted the Doctor and Rose. 'I got you that drink.'

'And I got you a treat,' he told her. 'Come on.'

'Red Six Seven departing shortly.' the man in the tweed suit called.

The Doctor held up the psychic paper. 'Me and my wife, Red Six Seven, and plus one.'

'Quickly, sir, please, and take three teleport bracelets if you would.'

'I'll get the sack,' Astrid whispered nervously.

'Brand new sky,' the Doctor encouraged.

'We won't tell,' Rose promised her.

The man in the tweed suit started a pre-teleport briefing. 'To repeat, I am Mr. Copper, the ship's historian, and I shall be taking you to old London town in the country of UK, ruled over by good King Wenceslas. Now, human beings worship the great god Santa, a creature with fearsome claws, and his wife Mary. And every Christmas Eve, the people of UK go to war with the country of Turkey. They then eat the Turkey people for Christmas dinner like savages.'

'Eh?' said Rose, puzzled. 'Is he havin' a laugh.

'Excuse me. Sorry, sorry, but, er, where did you get all this from?' the Doctor asked him.

'Well, I have a first class degree in Earthonomics. Now, stand by.'

The little red, spiky alien ran up to Mr. Copper. 'And me! And me! Red Six Seven.'

'Well, take a bracelet, please, sir.'

The Doctor looked at the Zocci. 'But, er, hold on, hold on. What was your name?'

'Bannakaffalatta.'

'Okay, Bannakaffalatta. But it's Christmas Eve down there. Late night shopping, tons of people. He's like a talking conker. No offence, but you'll cause a riot because the streets are going to be packed with shoppers and parties and . . .'

Before the Doctor could finish, they were all teleported down to a London street, which was conspicuously empty for a Christmas Eve.

'. . . Oh!' he finished.

'Where is everybody?' Rose asked the Doctor, but Mr. Copper interrupted.

'Now, spending money. I have a credit card in Earth currency if you want to buy trinkets, or stockings, or the local delicacy, which is known as beef. But don't stray too far, it could be dangerous. Any day now they start boxing.'

'Very good,' said Bannakaffalatta.

'It should be full. It should be busy,' the Doctor told them.

'Something's wrong,' Rose said.

Astrid looked around in wonder. 'But it's beautiful.'

Rose smiled at her, remembering her first visit to New New York. 'Really? Do you think so? It's just a street.'

'The pyramids are beautiful,' the Doctor said. 'And New Zealand.'

'But it's a different planet. I'm standing on a different planet. There's concrete and shops. Alien shops. Real alien shops! Look, no stars in the sky. And it smells. It stinks! Oh, this is amazing. Thank you!' Astrid enthused, pulling them into a group hug.

Rose snorted a laugh. 'Oi, that's my home town you're callin' smelly.'

The Doctor smiled at Astrid. 'Yeah? Come on then, let's have a look.'

They saw a news stand manned by a elderly, grey haired gentleman.

The Doctor wandered over. 'Hello, there. Sorry, obvious question, but where's everybody gone?'

The old man looked at him with a "isn't it obvious?" expression. 'Ho ho, scared!'

'Right. Yes. Scared of what?'

'Where've you been living . . ? London at Christmas . . ? Not safe, is it.'

Rose frowned. 'Eh? Why not?'

'Well, it's them, up above. Look, Christmas before last we had that big bloody spaceship, everyone standing on a roof. And then last year, that Christmas Star electrocuting all over the place, draining the Thames.'

'This place is amazing,' Astrid said in awe.

'And this year, Lord knows what. So, everybody's scarpered. Gone to the country. All except me and Her Majesty,' he said, standing to attention and looking at a portable television in his kiosk.

['Her Majesty the Queen has confirmed that she'll be staying in Buckingham Palace throughout the festive season to show the people of London, and the world, that there's nothing to fear,'] the news report announced.

'God bless her,' the old man said, saluting. 'We stand vigil.'

'Well, between you and me, I think her Majesty's got it right. Far as I know, this year, nothing to worry about,' the Doctor told him, before the three of them disappeared.

The old man looked around, even up. 'Then again . . .'

'I was in mid-sentence,' the Doctor told Mr. Copper on board ship.

'Yes, I'm sorry about that . . . A bit of a problem. If I could have your bracelets.'

The chief steward approached the group. 'Apologies, ladies and gentlemen, and Bannakaffalatta. We seem to have suffered a slight power fluctuation.'

Astrid was afraid she would lose her job, and hid behind the Doctor.

'If you'd like to return to the festivities. And on behalf of Max Capricorn Cruiseliners, free drinks will be provided,' the steward told them.

'Thank you,' Foon said with a smile.

Rose could see Astrid's dilemma, and thought of an easy way to explain her presence in the group. 'Er, waitress? My husband and I will have Champagne,' she said in a posh voice, and winking at her.

'Certainly Ma'am.' Astrid replied. 'Thanks,' she whispered conspiratorially to them. 'That was the best. The best!'

The Doctor wandered up to the steward. 'What sort of power fluctuation?'

When the steward didn't really give an answer, the Doctor put on his brainy specs and wandered over to one of the gold framed display panels.

'Whatcha doin'?' Rose asked him in her "do I really want to know" tone of voice.

'Just checking the power fluctuation.'

['And I should know because my name is Max. The fastest, the furthest, the best. My name is Max,'] the display told them.

The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to unfasten the frame and get at the electronics behind it. He changed the image to ship's status. The shields were off-line. The Doctor looked out of the nearby porthole to see the three fireballs heading their way.

He rigged the intercom with his sonic screwdriver. 'Is that the Bridge? I need to talk to the Captain. You've got a meteoroid storm coming in. West zero by north two.'

['Who is this?'] a cultured voice asked.

'Never mind that, your shields are down. Check your scanners, Captain. You've got meteoroids coming in and no shielding.'

['You have no authorisation. You will clear the comms at once.']

'Yeah? Just look starboard!' the Doctor said, looking out the port hole again with Rose.

Two stewards grabbed the Doctor's arms: 'Come with me, sir.'

'Oi! leave him alone,' Rose shouted, trying to grapple with the stewards.

'You've got a rock storm heading for this ship and the shields are down.'

With Rose's help, the Doctor got away from his escorts and rushed over to the stage where the female artist was singing her song. The Doctor took the microphone stand from the singer.

'Everyone, listen to me! This is an emergency! Get to the lifeb . . .' A robotic Host put its hand over the Doctor's mouth. The stewards came and took him away.

'Look out the windows!' he shouted.

'Listen to him,' Rose said. 'He's tellin' the truth.'

'Him friend,' Bannakaffalatta said.

The rude man with the phone went to the window to look, and saw three fiery rocks coming towards them.

'If you don't believe me, check the shields yourself,' the Doctor told them.

Astrid pulled at the stewards sleeve. 'Sir, I can vouch for him!'

Morvin pulled at the other steward. 'Look, Steward, he's just had a bit too much to drink.'

Then Mr. Copper assailed the steward. 'Sir, something seems to have gone wrong. All the teleports have gone down.'

'Not now!' the steward said sharply.

A piece of hot rock broke through a window and landed at the rude man's feet.

['Oxygen membrane holding. Oxygen membrane holding,'] the computer announced.

The rude man went to one of the Host's. 'You there. Has anyone checked the external shielding?'

['Information. You are all going to die.']

* * *

The Doctor used what appeared to be an old fashioned speaking tube to contact the bridge. 'Deck twenty two to the bridge. Deck twenty two to the bridge. Is there anyone there?'

['This is the bridge,'] a young sounding man replied.

'Oh hello, sailor. Good to hear you. What's the situation up there?'

['We've got air. The oxygen field is holding, but the Captain, he's dead. He did it. I watched while he took down the shields. There was nothing I could do. I tried. I did try.']

'All right. Just stay calm. Tell me your name. What's your name?'

['Midshipman Frame.']

'Nice to meet you, sir. What's the state of the engines?'

['They're er. Hold on.(Ugh!)']

'Have you been injured?'

['I'm all right. Oh, my Vot. They're cycling down.']

'That's a nuclear storm drive, yes?'

['Yeah.']

'Doctor, what's the problem?' Rose asked him.

'The moment they're gone we lose orbit.'

['The planet.']

'Oh, yes. If we hit the planet, the nuclear storm explodes and wipes out life on Earth. Midshipman, I need you to fire up the engine containment field and feed it back into the core.'

['This is never going to work.']

'Trust me, it'll keep the engines going until I can get to the bridge.'

'We're going to die,' Foon said.

Mr. Copper frowned. 'Are you saying someone's done this on purpose?'

'We are. We're going to die,' Foon continued.

'We're just a cruise ship,' Astrid said.

The Doctor made a shushing action with his hands. 'Okay, okay. Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush. First things first. One. We are going to climb through this ship. B. No. Two. We're going to reach the bridge. Three. Or C. We're going to save the Titanic. And, coming in a very low four, or D, or that little iv in brackets they use in footnotes, why? Right then, follow me.'

'Hang on a minute,' the rude man called Rickston Slade said. 'Who put you in charge and who the hell are you anyway?'

The Doctor walked back along the wrecked corridor to stand next to Rose. 'I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm nine hundred and three years old and I'm the man who's going to save your lives and all six billion people on the planet below,'

Rose crossed her arms and looked up at her husband with pride, before looking at Rickston. 'You got a problem with that mate?'

'No,' he said timidly.

The Doctor smiled at Rose. 'In that case, allons-y!'

They made it to a stairwell, and the Doctor pushed open a bulkhead door with just a little debris against it. 'Careful. Follow me.'

'Rather ironic, but this is very much in the spirit of Christmas,' Mr. Copper told them. 'It's a festival of violence. They say that human beings only survive depending on whether they've been good or bad. It's barbaric.'

'Actually, that's not true,' Rose corrected him.

'Christmas is a time of, of peace and thanksgiving and what am I on about? My Christmases are always like this,' the Doctor said, starting to rummage through the wreckage of the stairwell.

'Mine aren't,' Rose told him, and then thought about it. 'Well, they weren't until I met you.'

'That must make me the Grinch then,' he said as he moved a metal plate. 'We've got a Host. Strength of ten. If we can mend it, we can use it to fix the rubble.'

'We can do robotics,' Morvin said. 'Both of us.'

Foon nodded in agreement. 'We work on the milk market back on Sto. It's all robot staff.'

'See if you can get it working. Come on Rose, let's have a look,' the Doctor said as he led the rest of them further up the stairwell.

'It's blocked,' Astrid said in despair.

'So what do we do?' the Doctor asked.

Rose grabbed a loose panel. 'We shift it.'

'That's the attitude. Rickston, Mr. Copper, and you, Bannakaffalatta. Look, can I just call you Banna? It's going to save a lot of time.'

'No. Bannakaffalatta,' the red, spiky little alien said with no room for negotiation.

'All right then, Bannakaffalatta. There's a gap in the middle. See if you can get through.'

'Easy. Good,' Bannakaffalatta said.

As he negotiated the small gap, the ship shook and more debris shifted. Slade flinched and looked at the structure. 'This whole thing could come crashing down any minute.'

The Doctor scowled at him. 'Oh, Rickston, I forgot. Did you get that message?'

'No. What message?'

'Shut up!'

Rose snorted a laugh.

'Bannakaffalatta made it,' the little alien called from the other side of the debris.

'Here, let me have a go,' Rose said, approaching the hole. When she tried to step into the gap, her dress limited her movements. 'Oh, that's a shame, I really like this dress an' all.'

She looked for a sharp edge of metal, and lifted the hem of her dress to tear it, and then ripped the front of her dress up to the top of her stockings. 'There, that's better.'

'Be careful Rose,' the Doctor told her.

She kissed him on the lips, before putting one of her shapely legs through the gap, and wriggling her body through the tunnel of debris.

Astrid stepped up next. 'I'm small enough, I can get through.'

'Careful,' the Doctor warned her. She wasn't a seasoned adventurer like his wife.

'I'm fine.'

'Thing is, how are Mr. and Mrs Fatso going to get through that gap?' Slade said cruelly.

'We make the gap bigger,' the Doctor told him in his "dribbled down his dinner suit" tone of voice. 'So start.'

Rose called through the tunnel. 'I can clear it from this side. Just tell me if it starts moving.'

Bannakaffalatta staggered and slumped down. Astrid went to him and crouched down. 'Bannakaffalatta, what's wrong?'

'Shush,' he told her.

'What is it?'

'Can't say.'

'Are you hurt?'

'Ashamed.'

'Of what?' Astrid asked sympathetically.

'Poor Bannakaffalatta.' The alien pulled up his shirt to reveal a metallic chest and abdomen.

'You're a cyborg.'

'Had accident long ago. Secret.'

'No, but everything's changed now. Cyborgs are getting equal rights. They passed a law back on Sto. You can even get married.'

'Could use some help here,' Rose called out to them.

'Marry you?' Bannakaffalatta asked Astrid.

Rose hadn't heard their conversation as she'd been moving debris, but now she'd stopped, she heard that question. 'Is he flirting with you?

'Well, you can buy me a drink first,' Astrid said light heartedly, before whispering. 'Come on. Let's recharge you. Just stay there for a bit.'

'Tell no one,' Bannakaffalatta whispered.

'I promise.'

'What's going on up there?' the Doctor called through the tunnel.

'I think Bannakaffalatta and Astrid just got engaged,' Rose called back, giving Astrid her cheeky grin.

* * *

The remnants of the rag-tag group had made it to a platform in the engine room, that overlooked a deep pit into the nuclear storm drive. Morvin had fallen into the storm drive, when a walkway collapsed under his weight.

They had lost Bannakaffalatta when he discharged his EMP transmitter to save them from the homicidal Host robots, and Foon had grappled a Host over the edge to save the group, and follow her husband into the drive.

The Doctor had come to a decision. He had managed to talk his way into the Host programming, and found out that whoever was responsible for this disaster was on deck thirty one. 'Right. Get yourself up to Reception One. Once you're there . . .'

'Hey, what ya mean, "get yourself up to Reception One?" I'm comin' with you,' Rose said.

The Doctor held her hands and looked into her worried eyes. 'Rose, I need you to get everyone to the reception area so that they can send out an SOS. They need someone experienced to lead them to safety.' He handed over the sonic screwdriver. 'Take this. I've preset it, it'll open doors. Do not lose it! You got that?' he said with more humour than he was feeling.

'I'll guard it with my life, and I'm gonna give it back to ya later.' They exchanged a passionate kiss.

After they'd finished their snog, he turned to the group. 'Mr. Copper, you've got staff access to the computer. Try to find a way of transmitting an SOS.'

He turned to Astrid. 'Astrid, you're in charge of this.' He gave her Bannakaffalatta's EMP transmitter that Mr. Copper had taken from his chest. 'Once it's powered up, it'll take out a Host within fifty yards but then it needs sixty seconds to recharge. Got it?'

The Doctor handed a first aid kit to Copper. 'Mr. Copper, you're going to need this. I need you fighting fit. Astrid, where's the power points?'

'Under the comms.'

They plugged in the EMP transmitter. 'See, when it's ready, that blue light comes on there,' he showed her.

'What if you meet a Host?' she wondered. Wouldn't he need the EMP transmitter.

'Well, then I'll just have some fun.'

'Sounds like you do this kind of thing all the time.'

'Not by choice. All we do is travel. That's what we are. Just travellers.'

'Sort of space gypsies,' said Rose. 'Imagine it. No tax, no bills, no boss. Just the open sky.'

'I'm sort of unemployed now,' Astrid told them. 'I was thinking the blue box is kind of small, but I could squeeze in it, like a stowaway.'

'It's not always safe,' he told her.

'Hah!' Rose laughed. 'You're tellin' me.'

'I've got no one back on Sto. No family, just me. So what do you think? Can I come with you?'

The Doctor looked questioningly at Rose. 'What do you think?'

Rose smiled at him. He was a sucker for a sob story and a vulnerable woman. That's how she had ended up with him, and she liked Astrid, she reminded Rose of herself. Didn't she deserve a chance of escaping the drudgery of a humdrum existence?

'Yeah, I'd like that . . . Yeah.'

There was an explosion that rocked the ship. The Doctor rushed to a comms panel. 'Mr. Frame, you still with us?'

['It's the engines, sir. Final phase. There's nothing more I can do. We've got only eight minutes left.']

'Don't worry, I'll get there.'

['But the bridge is sealed off.']

'Yeah, yeah, working on it. I'll get there, Mr. Frame, somehow.'

'All charged up?' he asked Astrid. 'Rose, look after them. Mr. Copper, look after her. Astrid, look after him. Rickston, er, look after yourself. And I'll see you again, I promise.'

He slipped his arm from around Rose's waist and patted her bottom. 'Now go and open the next door. Go on, go!'

'Hold on! There's an old tradition on Planet Sto,' Astrid told him. 'I know you're married, but it is a tradition.'

'I have really got to go,' he told her.

'Just wait a minute.' She took the first aid box from Copper, stood on it, grabbed his lapels and pulled him in for a kiss.

'Yeah, that's a, ahem, very old tradition, yeah,' he said, looking at Rose with a guilty expression. Rose just smirked. Vulnerable women with sob stories were also suckers for him.

'See you later,' Astrid said.

'Oh, yes!'

'See ya lover boy,' Rose said teasingly.

He went back across the bridge while the others carried on upwards towards the reception area.

Rose opened a door to find three Host robots waiting for them.

'Do it!' she shouted to Astrid.

Astrid activated the EMP device, and a pulse of blue energy fanned out, causing the Host robots to collapse. They all cheered and rejoiced.


	2. Voyage of the Damned Part Two

**Chapter 2**

 **The Voyage of the Damned Part Two**

Rose led the group into the reception area, where they had first met. There were another four Host robots in the room, and Astrid activated the EMP transmitter again.

'Rickston, seal the doors, make the room secure.' Rose commanded. 'Mr. Copper, keep an eye on the Host. I need to check the computer. We need that SOS.'

Rose went over to the computer terminal and put down the sonic screwdriver, she wouldn't be opening any more doors now that they had made it to the reception room. The computer didn't seem to be working, even when she thumped it. Neither Astrid nor Mr. Copper were technically minded, so they weren't able to get it working either.

Rose was feeling frustrated. She needed the Doctor. She needed to be with him, at his side. And then she noticed the rack of teleport bracelets. 'Mr Copper. Do you know how to set a destination for these bracelets?'

'Well, yes. You use the navigation screen on the teleport console.' He showed her the graphical interface, and she was able to select deck thirty one. 'But there's no power to the system.'

Rose reached for the speaking tube she'd seen the Doctor use to contact the bridge. 'Bridge? This is Reception One.'

['Who's there?'] Midshipman Frame asked.

'Rose Lungbarrowmas. I'm the Doctor's wife. Tell me, can you divert power to the teleport system?'

['No way. I'm using everything I got to keep the engines running.']

'It's just one trip. I need to get to deck thirty one.'

['And I'm telling you, no.']

'Mr. Frame, this is for the Doctor!' Rose told him forcefully. 'He's gone down there on his own, and I . . . we can't just leave him. He's done everything he can to save us. It's time we did something to help him.'

['Giving you power.'] Frame said.

'Make that enough for two,' Astrid said, grabbing two bracelets and giving one to Rose.

'Mr. Copper, we're going to find him,' Rose said.

Mr. Copper looked up from the Host robot he was dismantling. 'Good luck.'

Rose and Astrid disappeared in a shimmering white light.

* * *

Below decks, the Doctor had made it to the galley, where he found four Host robots. He grabbed a large sauté pan to defend himself.

'Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Security protocol one. Do you hear me? One. One! Okay, that gives me three questions. Three questions to save my life, am I right?'

['Information. Correct.']

'No, that wasn't one of them. I didn't mean it. That's not fair. Can I start again?'

['Information. No.']

'No! No, no, no, no. That wasn't a question either.' Damn their limited programming. 'Blimey. One question left. One question. So, you've been given orders to kill the survivors but survivors must therefore be passengers or staff, but not me. I'm not a passenger. I'm not staff. Go on, scan me. You must have bio-records. No such person on board. I don't exist, therefore you can't kill me. Therefore, I'm a stowaway, and stowaways should be arrested and taken to the nearest figure of authority. And I reckon the nearest figure of authority is on deck thirty one. Final question. Am I right?'

['Information. Correct.']

'Brilliant. Take me to your leader. I've always wanted to say that.'

The Host robots took him to deck thirty one, to a wrecked maintenance area. 'Wow. Now that is what you call a fixer upper. Come on then, Host with the most, this ultimate authority of yours. Who is it?'

One of the Host pressed a button and a pair of doors opened.

'Oh, that's clever. That's an omnistate impact chamber. Indestructible. You can survive anything in there. Sit through a supernova. Or a shipwreck. Only one person can have the power and the money to hide themselves on board like this and I should know, because . . .'

A large, box like device with small wheels emerged through the doors. The Doctor could see a man's head in a transparent housing on the top.

'My name is Max,' the head said and his gold tooth glinted.

'It really does that,' the Doctor said in surprise. He thought it was a visual effect.

'Who the hell is this?' Max asked his Hosts.

'I'm the Doctor. Hello.'

['Information. Stowaway.']

'Wellll . . .'

'Kill him.' The Host robots grabbed him.

'Oh, no, no, no. Wait, but you can't. Not now. Come on, Max. You've given me so much good material like, how to get ahead in business. See? Head? Head in business? No?'

'Oh, ho, ho, the office joker. I like a funny man. No one's been funny with me for years.'

'I can't think why.'

'A hundred and seventy six years of running the company have taken their toll.'

'Yeah but, nice wheels.'

'No, a life support system, in a society that despises cyborgs. I've had to hide away for years, running the company by hologram,' Max told him. 'Host, situation report.'

['Information. Titanic is still in orbit.']

Max looked irritated by that report. 'Let me see. We should have crashed by now.' He rolled forward to look over the edge of the platform. 'What's gone wrong? The engines are still running! They should have stopped!'

Rose and Astrid materialised on deck thirty one, and Rose could hear her husband trying to talk circles around someone in his usual, charming style.

'When they do, the Earth gets roasted. I don't understand. What's the Earth got to do with it?'

'This interview is terminated.'

His usual, charming style didn't seem to be working. She hoped being married wasn't cramping his style.

'No. No, no, no, no, no. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I can work it out. It's like a task. I'm your apprentice. Just watch me,' he said.

"That's more like it," Rose thought with a smile.

'So, business is failing and you wreck the ship so that makes things even worse. Oh, yes! No. Yes. The business isn't failing, it's failed. Past tense.'

'My own board voted me out. Stabbed me in the back.'

'If you had a back,' the Doctor quipped.

"Nah, still got his gob," Rose thought.

'So, you scupper the ship, wipe out any survivors just in case anyone's rumbled you and the board find their shares halved in value. Oh, but that's not enough. No. Because if a Max Capricorn ship hits the Earth, it destroys an entire planet. Outrage back home. Scandal! The business is wiped out.'

'And the whole board thrown in jail for mass murder.'

'While you sit there, safe inside the impact chamber.'

'I have men waiting to retrieve me from the ruins and enough off-world accounts to retire me to the beaches of Penhaxico Two, where the ladies, so I'm told, are very fond of metal.'

'So that's the plan. A retirement plan. Two thousand people on this ship, six billion underneath us, all of them slaughtered, and why? Because Max Capricorn is a loser.'

'I never lose.'

'You can't even sink the Titanic.'

'Oh, but I can, Doctor. I can cancel the engines from here.' An alarm suddenly starts wailing.

'You can't do this!' the Doctor yelled.

'Host, hold him.' Two of the robots grab the Doctor's arms.

Rose realised that things weren't going according to plan. Who was she kidding? When did the Doctor ever have a plan? She looked around the area to see if there was anything she could use to help him.

'Astrid. That forklift truck over there, reckon we can work it?'

Astrid gave her a smile. 'I'm game if you are.'

'Not so clever now, Doctor. A shame we couldn't work together. You're rather good. All that banter yet not a word wasted. Time for me to retire. The Titanic is falling. The sky will burn. Let the Christmas inferno commence. Oh. Oh, Host. Kill him.'

'OI! Max!' Rose shouted. 'Mess with my husband, yer mess with me.'

'Oh, and Mr. Capricorn!' Astrid called out. 'I resign.'

Rose put her foot on the accelerator and the truck rolled towards Capricorn's vehicle.

'Rose, Astrid, don't!' the Doctor shouted.

Rose got the forks under Capricorn's life support and the two machines battled each other for supremacy. A Host threw its halo at them, which glanced off the roll cage and made them squeal.

'He's cut the brake line!' the Doctor warned them.

Rose knew that if they didn't stop Capricorn, the Earth was doomed. 'Astrid, lift the forks. If we can't push him over, we'll carry him.'

Rose looked over to the Doctor and gave him a confident look that said "don't worry, we'll stop him". The Doctor shook his head and mouthed "no". Unfortunately, Rose hadn't taken into account that when they lifted Capricorn's vehicle, it would stop pushing against their forklift truck.

They surged forwards and toppled over the edge into the abyss. The Doctor watched in horror, as the trucks tipped over the edge. It seemed to happen in slow motion.

'ROSE!' he shouted.

With Capricorn gone, the Host reverted to their original programming and released the Doctor. He ran forward and looked over the edge, watching in disbelief as his wife, his love, fell away from him towards the nuclear furnace of the storm drive.

'NO! ROSE . . . ROSE!' he screamed into the glowing pit.

['Titanic falling. Voyage terminated . . . Voyage terminated,'] the computer announced.

His body was wracked by sobs of grief, as he tried to suck air into his lungs. 'Rose,' he whispered.

He had a flashback to Satellite 5, when she had been shot by the Ann Droid. And then van Statten's bunker, when the Dalek had said "exterminate". Each time he had been distraught with grief when he thought she had died, but she had survived and came back to him.

Not this time! There was no way she could survive that, and there was no way he could save her . . . or Astrid for that matter.

* * *

On the Bridge, Midshipman Frame was trying to steer the falling liner away from the planet, but it was futile. The engines were dead, and he had a bullet in his abdomen. He didn't have the strength left to manhandle the wheel. He slumped in the corner, exhausted.

Two Host suddenly punched their way through the wooden floor panels at the back of the Bridge. Between them, was a man with unruly hair, wearing a dinner suit.

['Deadlock broken,'] the computer told them.

'Ah, Midshipman Frame. At last,' the Doctor said. His grief filed away for the moment. It would wait until he had saved the world, until he was back in the TARDIS.

Frame struggled to his feet. 'Er, but, but the Host.'

'Controller dead, they divert to the next highest authority, and that's me.'

'There's nothing we can do. There's no power. The ship's going to fall.'

['Titanic falling,'] the computer confirmed.

'What's your first name?' the Doctor asked Frame as he started to adjust the controls.

'Alonso.'

['Titanic falling.']

'You're kidding me.'

'What?'

'That's something else I've always wanted to say. Allons-y, Alonso. Whoa!'

He started to spin the ship's wheel, tacking the ship through the atmosphere. Alarms sounded as they descended lower and lower through the atmosphere, the air in front of the ship became superheated plasma. Once into the cloud layer, the Doctor turned on a scanner with his foot to see that their impact area was in west Central London. "Oh typical. Bloody typical," he thought to himself.

He grabbed an old fashioned, gold telephone off the console. 'Oh. Hello, yes. Could you get me Buckingham Palace?' He waited whilst the connection was made, and one of the Queen's telephony staff answered the phone.

['Buckingham Palace. How may I help you?']

'Listen to me. Security code seven seven one. Now get out of there!'

['Engines active. Engines active.']

"Yes!" There was a chance he could do this.

The Doctor pulled back on the wheel with all his strength, trying to get the ship's nose up. He braced himself for the impact, and Frame closed his eyes in anticipation. But instead of an explosion, they felt the ship level off as it missed the Palace by inches and then felt the surge of acceleration as they flew back up into the sky.

'Whoo hoo!' Frame shouted in a mixture of joy and relief.

'Whoo hoo hoo!' The Doctor exclaimed.

Frame slid down a support strut at the back of the room, as the Doctor sent the ship over the North Pole, and then curved around into an equatorial orbit.

He went over and sat next to Frame. 'Used the heat of re-entry to fire up the secondary storm drive . . . Unsinkable, that's me.' He stared out of the windows, silently remembering that he had lost Rose.

'We made it,' Frame said, trying to bolster his sense of achievement.

'Not all of us.'

He could see every detail of Rose and Astrid as they fell. Rose in her torn, burgundy dress. She loved that dress, it was the first one she had ever dressed up in. Astrid, in her maids outfit. Rose had worn one like that when they had been in Pete's World.

That got him thinking about Jackie. She would never know that Rose had died saving the Earth. She would be as mad as hell at him for letting it happen, but she would have been so proud of her daughter.

Tears stung his eyes as he saw Rose and Astrid reaching up to him with their outstretched arms with bracelets on their wrists . . .

'TELEPORT!' he shouted out, making Frame jump. 'They were wearing teleport bracelets.' Of course! That's how they had gotten to deck thirty one so quickly; they'd teleported.

He ran out of the Bridge and along the debris strewn passageways as fast as he could. Oh please let this be one of those days.

He ran into the reception area and reached inside his jacket pocket for his sonic screwdriver. He skidded to a halt. Rose had his sonic!

He saw Slade and Copper standing at the bar, as though they were waiting for a bartender to serve them a drink. 'Mr. Copper. Have you seen the device I gave Rose to open the doors with? You remember, silvery pen type thing. Made a warbling noise.'

'Is that it over by the computer terminal?' asked Slade?

'Where are the ladies?' Copper asked him. 'They went to find you . . . did they find you ?'

Copper knew from the look that the Doctor gave him that they had found him, and wished that they hadn't.

He grabbed his sonic and ran over to the teleport control console. 'Mr. Copper, the teleports, have they got emergency settings?'

'I don't know. They should have.'

The Doctor knew that the bracelets were just a transponder for the teleport to lock on to. The real teleport equipment was in the ship itself, and he knew a lot of commercial teleport devices had to pass health and safety inspections. One safety feature was a matter data backup in case of an accident. The user's configuration was stored so that it could be reconstructed.

'They fell, Mr. Copper. They fell. What's the emergency code?'

'Er, let me see.' Copper went to the controls and set the code.

'What the hell are you doing?' Frame asked as he shuffled into the room.

'We can bring them back,' the Doctor told them as he worked on a bundle of wires in the back of the console.

Mr. Copper explained the principle as the Doctor worked furiously. 'If a passenger has an accident on shore leave and they're still wearing their teleport, their molecules are automatically suspended and held in stasis, so that we can just trigger the shift.'

The Doctor hit a button on the console. 'There!'

Two blue, shimmering, semi transparent bodies appeared in the room.

'Doctor? Where are you?' the image of Rose said in a ghostly voice.

'I'm falling,' the image of Astrid said.

'Only halfway there,' the Doctor said. 'Come on.' He started working on the equipment again.

'Doctor? Save me,' the image of Rose pleaded.

'Working on it Sweetheart.'

'I keep falling,' the image of Astrid told them.

'Feed back the molecule grid. Boost it with the restoration matrix.' There was a bang and a puff of smoke from the console. 'No, no, no, no, no! Need more phase containment.'

He looked at the readings on the console and froze. 'Oh no . . . oh no, not that. Please.'

'Doctor? What's wrong?' Copper asked.

'The restoration matrix buffer has been damaged. I can only link up the surface suspension on one of them . . . I have to choose who lives and who dies.'

'I keep falling,' the image of Astrid called out to him.

'Doctor? Where are you?' the image of Rose asked again.

'Oh dear,' Copper said sadly, realising the weight of decision that rested on the Doctor's shoulders.

Tears ran down the Doctor's cheeks. Why did it always come down to choices like this? 'I know what Rose would say. She would say "save Astrid", without a second thought. That's the woman I fell in love with.'

Mr. Copper put a comforting hand on his shoulder. 'But she's your wife Doctor. What do you do, flip a coin? Leave it to Lady Luck?'

'I'm falling.'

'Doctor? I love you.'

With his eyes blurred with tears, he used his sonic screwdriver on the internal components of the console. There was another bang and puff of smoke. It looked like he would no longer have to make a decision, the equipment was failing.

'No!' he cried out. 'I just need to override the safety. I can do this. I can do it.'

Rose's image lost it's blue, ethereal glow, and took on a pure, golden shining light.

'What's happening?' Copper asked as Rose's body became less transparent.

'I . . . I don't know,' the Doctor said, which was quite an admission for him, because he usually knew everything.

He used the sonic to scan her form. 'Artron energy. But . . . But that's impossible! Where's it coming from?'

Before he could contemplate that mystery, Rose became fully restored, and fainted into his arms. He lowered her to the floor and cradled her in his arms. 'I've got you. I've got you my love.'

'Stop me falling,' the image of Astrid said.

'She's just atoms, Doctor,' Copper said. 'An echo with the ghost of consciousness. She's stardust.'

'Astrid Peth, citizen of Sto. The woman who looked at the stars and dreamt of travelling. Now you can travel forever.'

He pointed the sonic screwdriver at a window, which opened, as Astrid turned into specks of light. 'You're not falling, Astrid, you're flying.' The sparkles of light drifted through the window and out into space.

'Ooh, my head,' Rose said as her eyes flickered open. She looked up at the Doctor and smiled. 'Hiya. We were gonna teleport down to deck thirty one. Did somethin' go wrong?'

The Doctor realised that for the reconstructed Rose, she had never left the reception area in the teleporter. 'Er, yeah. There was a problem with the equipment . . . Rose, it's Astrid . . . she didn't make it.'

Rose frowned. 'What d'ya mean?'

'She died in the teleporter. I'm sorry.'

Rose grabbed him and hugged him for support. As far as she was aware, it could so easily have happened to her as well.

A while later, Frame returned to the reception area. 'The engines have stabilised. We're holding steady till we get help, and I've sent the SOS. A rescue ship should be here within twenty minutes. And they're digging out the records on Max Capricorn. It should be quite a story,' Midshipman Frame told them.

'They'll want to talk to all of us, I suppose,' Mr. Copper said.

Frame nodded. 'I'd have thought so, yeah.'

'I think one or two inconvenient truths might come to light,' Copper said, referring to his falsified qualifications and credentials. 'Still, it's my own fault, and ten years in jail is better than dying.'

Rickston Slade walked up to the Doctor and Rose by the bar. 'Doctor, I never said . . . thank you.' He hugged the Doctor, but the Doctor didn't return it. 'The funny thing is, I said Max Capricorn was falling apart. Just before the crash, I sold all my shares, transferred them to his rivals. It's made me rich. What do you think of that?'

Slade's vone rang, and he turned away to answer it. 'Salvain. Those shares. I want them triple bonded and locked.'

Copper wandered over to the Doctor and Rose. 'Of all the people to survive, he's not the one you would have chosen, is he? But if you could choose, Doctor, if you decide who lives and who dies . . .' He was referring to the teleport dilemma. 'Would that make you a monster?'

The Doctor looked into Rose's beautiful, hazel eyes. Had she somehow taken that decision for him so that he didn't have to? He took a teleport bracelet and clipped it onto her wrist, kissing her lips as he did so.

'Hang on . . . is it safe?' Rose asked him, thinking that Astrid had died in the teleporter.

He picked a bracelet for himself. 'Yep. I've fixed it. It's perfectly safe. And . . .' He picked up a third bracelet. 'Mr. Copper, I think you deserve one of these.'

Midshipman Frame saluted them as they disappeared from the Titanic. They ended up on Hampstead Heath, near to the TARDIS, which had followed its emergency programme and landed on the nearest source of gravity, which happened to be the Earth.

'So, Great Britain is part of Europey, and just across the British Channel, you've got Great France and Great Germany,' Copper said.

'No, no, it's just . . . it's just France and Germany. Only Britain is Great,' Rose told him.

'Oh, and they're all at war with the continent of Ham Erica.'

'No. Well . . . not yet. Er, could argue that one,' the Doctor said. 'There she is. Survive anything.'

'You know, between you and me, I don't even think this snow is real. I think it's the ballast from the Titanic's salvage entering the atmosphere,' Copper said, looking up to the sky.

'Yeah. One of these days it might snow for real,' Rose said. 'And without your atmospheric excitation thingy.'

'So . . . I . . . I suppose you'll be off.'

'The open sky,' the Doctor said, looking up.

Rose hugged his arm. 'It's all waiting out there, Mr. Copper . . . All those planets, and creatures . . . and horizons.'

'And, what about me?' Copper asked hesitantly.

'We travel alone,' the Doctor told him.

'What am I supposed to do?'

'Give me that credit card,' he said.

'It's just petty cash. Spending money. It's all done by computer. I didn't really know the currency, so I thought a million might cover it.'

'A million? Pounds?' Rose asked, surprise in her voice.

'That enough for trinkets?'

'Mister Copper, a million pounds is worth fifty million credits,' the Doctor told him.

'How much?'

'Fifty million and fifty six.'

'I've got money.'

'Yes, you have.'

'Oh, my word. Oh, my Vot! Oh, my goodness me. Yee ha!'

'It's all yours, planet Earth. Now, that's a retirement plan. But just you be careful, though.'

'I will, I will. Oh, I will.'

'No interfering. I don't want any trouble; just . . .' he thought about what Copper should do.

'Just have a nice life,' Rose said with a smile.

'But I can have a house. A proper house, with a garden, and a door, and . . . Oh, Doctor, Rose, I will make you proud. And I can have a kitchen with chairs, and windows, and plates, and . . .'

They watched Mr. Copper wandering off.

'Er, where are you goin'?' Rose asked him

'Well, I've no idea.'

Rose grinned. 'No, me neither.'

'But Doctor, I won't forget her,' Copper said, meaning Astrid Peth.

A streak of blue starlight zig-zagged across the sky.

Neither would the Doctor, he remembered everyone he had failed. Astrid was the latest in a roll call of the dead, joining Katarina, Sarah, Adric, Kamelion, his family and friends on Gallifrey.

'Merry Christmas, Mister Copper.'

'Merry Christmas,' Rose echoed.

They stepped into the TARDIS, walked up the ramp to the console, and the Doctor activated the time rotor. Rose was remembering what Mr. Copper had said.

['But I can have a house. A proper house, with a garden, and a door, and I can have a kitchen with chairs, and windows, and plates.'] It reminded her of a similar conversation she'd had with the doctor once, when they thought they had lost the TARDIS on Krop Tor.

['I don't know. Find a planet, get a job, live a life, same as the rest of the universe,'] she had said.

['I'd have to settle down. Get a house or something. A proper house with, with doors and things. Carpets. Me, living in a house. Now that, that is terrifying.']

['You'd have to get a mortgage,'] she'd teased.

['No!']

['Oh, yes.']

['I'm dying. That's it. I'm dying. It is all over,'] he'd joked at the time.

['What about me? I'd have to get one, too. I don't know, could be the same one. We could both, I don't know, share. Or not, you know. Whatever. I don't know. We'll sort something out,'] she had ventured hesitantly at the time, never thinking that they would eventually get married.

'C'mon,' she said, nudging him with her shoulder. 'Let's get changed, and then you can take me somewhere for Christmas lunch.'

'Oh yeah. Christmas. How do you want to celebrate this year?'

She rubbed her body up against his. 'I'm sure I'll think of somethin'. After all, it's our first Christmas together as husband and wife.'

'Merry Christmas Wife,' he said, kissing her on the lips.

'Merry Christmas Husband.' She returned the kiss, and ran her fingers through his hair.


	3. Partners in Crime

**Chapter**

 **Partners in Crime**

Rose walked up the short steps to the pedestrian area in front of the multi-storey, glass, and steel office building. She smoothed the skirt of her smart, light blue business suit, and walked through the revolving doors. She walked up to the reception desk and adjusted her round, thick rimmed spectacles.

'Jacqueline Prentice, reporter for the Slimmer's Gazette,' she told the receptionist, flashing the wallet of psychic paper at her. 'I've come for the press conference.'

'Oh yes. Here's a press pass for you. You want the lecture theatre on the first floor. The lifts are over there.'

'Thank you,' Rose said, putting the lanyard around her neck, and heading for the indicated lifts. She bumped into a man wearing a tight, brown, pinstriped suit, with a long brown coat over the top of it.

'Oh, sorry,' she said, palming the wallet of psychic paper into his pocket.

The man, who had fantastically unruly hair, gave her a cheeky smile. 'No problem Miss . . . Er, what are you doing this evening? Only I know this little wine bar. Very select. I thought we could go out for a drink or something.'

Rose giggled at him and held up her left hand. 'Sorry, I'm married.'

'Oh. What a shame. Lucky man. Is he good looking? Y'know, foxy and gorgeous?'

The lift "dinged" and the doors opened. 'Nah,' she said, giving him her tongue between the teeth smile before stepping into the lift.

The Doctor chuckled to himself and flashed the psychic paper at a security guard. 'John Smith. Health and safety,' he said as he went through the door to the stairwell.

Donna Noble walked through the revolving doors, and headed for the lifts as though she knew exactly where she was going. She didn't . . . not yet, but she soon would. Having worked in many offices over the years, she knew that a press conference would be listed on an events board somewhere in the foyer.

And there it was, just past the reception counter, a stand up board with a list of events for the day. At the top of the list was 'Press announcement with Miss Foster - Lecture Theatre - First Floor.'

'Donna Noble, Health and Safety,' she said to the security man at the lift, quickly flashing her small wallet with fake I.D in it that she'd put together off the internet. She stepped out on the first floor and followed the signs, and the interested parties to the lecture theatre. She took a seat, half way down the auditorium, and looked all around the room, looking for a particular, distinctive, sticky up hair style.

She sat down disappointedly, and waited for the presentation to start. "Where is he?" she thought to herself as she waited. She was sure that something like this would draw the Doctor like a moth to light bulb. If she only knew that a few rows in front of her, the blonde with the ponytail, in the blue suit and geeky glasses was his wife, and her husband was only a few metres above her in the projection room, waiting like her for the show to start.

A prim and proper blonde woman, dressed in an immaculate, dark business suit, walked onto the stage and stood at the microphone.

'Adipose Industries, the twenty first century way to lose weight. No exercise, no diet, no pain, just lifelong freedom from fat. The Holy Grail of the modern age. And here it is.' Miss Foster held up a small red and white capsule.

'You just take one capsule . . . one capsule, once a day for three weeks, and the fat, as they say . . .' She turned to look at the projection screen behind her.

A smooth voice over said. 'The fat walks away.'

A young dark skinned woman raised her hand and interrupted the presentation. 'Excuse me, Miss Foster, if I could? I'm Penny Carter, science correspondent for The Observer. There are a thousand diet pills on the market, a thousand con men stealing people's money. How do we know the fat isn't going straight into your bank account?'

Rose checked her notes from the TARDIS display. Penny Carter was an investigative journalist who had exposed a number of dodgy research claims in the past. It was her blog on the conspiracy web site that had brought them here.

Miss Foster removed her glasses and regained her composure. 'Oh, Penny, if cynicism burnt up calories, we'd all be as thin as rakes, but if you want the science, I can oblige,' she said smoothly, trying to hide her irritation.

The projection screen showed an animation to accompany the smooth voice over. 'Adipose Industries. The Adipose capsule is composed of a synthesised mobilising lipase, bound to a large protein molecule. The mobilising lipase breaks up the triglycerides stored in the adipose cells, which then enter the bloodstream and cause spontaneous absorption.'

Donna listened to the presentation, without a clue of what they were talking about. She often watched adverts on the telly about, shampoo, face cream and healthy yoghurt, and was taken in by the scientific sounding enzymes and bacteria. She was out of her depth; she needed a doctor, she needed THE Doctor.

Rose on the other hand, knew it was rubbish without understanding any of the jargon. The Doctor had said it was rubbish, and that was good enough for her.

'One hundred percent legal, one hundred percent effective,' Foster said as the short film finished.

'But, can I just ask, how many people have taken the pills to date?' Penny the journalist asked.

'We've already got one million customers within the Greater London area alone, but from next week, we start rolling out nationwide. The future starts here, and Britain will be thin.'

After the presentation, Rose made her way back to the TARDIS, while the Doctor made his way to the call centre, where a number of operatives were in individual cubicles, cold calling customers. He found a young woman called Clare, and managed to get the free gift of a pendant as a sample . . . for health and safety, of course.

He also managed to blag a list of customers off her, along with her phone number . . . for health and safety she had told him. He could be health, and she'd be safety. "And Rose will be the accident that befalls you if you carry on like that," he thought to himself.

When he went to the printer though, the list wasn't there, so he had to sheepishly go and ask her for another print out. Donna on the other hand, had chatted up a young man called Craig, and got the free pendant and two copies of the customer list.

Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor and Rose looked at the list of names and addresses. 'Who'd ya fancy then?' Rose asked. 'Stacey Campbell or Roger Davey? they live the closest.'

'Roger Davey. You can chat him up a bit. Y'know, pump him for information so to speak,' he said with a cheeky smile.

'Pump him for information? I'll pump you in a minute.'

'I think that probably sounded better in your head,' he told her, 'but I'll hold you to that later, Mrs. Lungbarrowmas.'

* * *

'Mister Roger Davey? John Smith, and this is my associate, Jackie Prentice. We're calling on behalf of Adipose Industries. Just need to ask you a few questions.'

'Adipose Industries?'

'Customer satisfaction survey,' Rose told him, giving him her best smile.

'Oh, right. Yes, please come in.'

He led them through to the living room, which was dimly lit with table lamps. Rose sat on one of the arm chairs, pulling her skirt down to her knees, whilst the Doctor wandered to and fro as he listened to Roger.

'I've been on the pills for two weeks now. I've lost fourteen kilos.'

'That's very precise,' Rose observed.

'That's the same amount every day?' the Doctor asked.

'One kilo exactly. You wake up, and it's disappeared overnight . . . Well, technically speaking, it's gone by ten past one in the morning.'

'What makes you say that?' the Doctor enquired with interest.

'That's when I get woken up. Might as well weigh myself at the same time. It is driving me mad. Here, I'll show you.'

Roger took them outside of his terraced house, and looked up above the door, at the alarm casing. 'Ten minutes past one, every night, bang on the dot without fail, the burglar alarm goes off. I've had experts in, I've had it replaced, I've even phoned Watchdog. But no, ten past one in the morning, off it goes.'

'But with no burglars?' Rose asked.

'Nothing. I've given up looking.'

'Tell me, Roger. Have you got a cat flap?' asked the Doctor on a tangent.

"A cat flap!" Rose thought. That reminded her of the first time the Doctor had gone to her flat. She had seen him through the cat flap. That got her thinking about the Powell Estate, and her mum . . . and Mickey.

Roger led them down the hallway to the kitchen, and knelt down at the back door with the Doctor. 'It was here when I bought the house. I've never bothered with it, really. I'm not a cat person.'

'No, we've met cat people. You're nothing like them.'

Rose rolled her eyes. 'He means, he doesn't like cats.'

The Doctor looked at Roger and smiled. 'I know what you mean. All devious and manipulative, with no sense of humour.'

'Is that what it is, though?' Roger asked. 'Cats getting inside the house?'

'Or plastic arms,' Rose suggested.

That got a grin from the Doctor as he remembered his first visit to her flat. 'Well, thing about cat flaps is, they don't just let things in, they let things out as well.'

'Like what?' Roger asked, baffled by the course of the conversation.

'The fat just walks away,' he said, deep in thought. He let the flap drop and stood up. 'Well, better get on. More customers to survey.'

Roger showed them to the front door. 'Thank you Mr. Davey,' Rose said. 'We'll feed back your comments to Adipose industries.'

The Doctor followed her out of the door. 'Well, thanks for your help. Tell you what, maybe you could lay off the pills for a week or so.'

The Doctor heard a beeping from inside his jacket, and took out a three pronged gizmo. 'Oh. Got to go. Sorry. C'mon Rose.'

'Jackie!' She corrected, reminding him she was using her mother's maiden name as an alias.

'Whatever,' he said as they ran off down the street, leaving a baffled and bemused Adipose Industries customer at his door.

'What is it Doctor?' Rose asked as she tried to keep up with him. Although her skirt hindered her running slightly, she was glad she went for the flat shoes, rather than the business heels.

'Alien parthenogenesis.' He stopped and checked the direction.

'In English.'

'There's stuff happening . . . This way!' He set off again down another street.

He stopped in the middle of the road, concentrating on his "Alien Parthenogenesis . . . Stuff Meter", and didn't see the black van bearing down on him at speed.

'DOCTOR!' Rose reached him in time and pulled him out of the way by his long coat, gripping him in a hug.

He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. 'Thank you.'

They watched the van go down the street, and his meter indicated that the signal was coming from the van. 'Come on.' He started running after it.

They ran to the end of the street and stopped. 'You'll never catch it on foot,' Rose told him.

'Yeah. Come on. Let's go back to the TARDIS and see what that free pendant is all about.' Arm in arm, they walked back down the street they had just run up, whilst in the next street, Donna Noble walked away in the opposite direction.

Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor was examining the Adipose pendant through a magnifying glass. 'Oh, fascinating. Seems to be a bio-flip digital stitch, specifically for converting human fat cells into a differentiated cellular matrix.'

'In English,' Rose said.

'It's not the pills making people lose weight,' he said, holding up the pendant on it's chain.

'Wha? It's the pendants?'

'Yep! I think we need to pay another visit to Adipose Industries. I'll jump the TARDIS forwards to the morning, and relocate nearby their offices.'

'I'll go and get changed and make some sandwiches.'

* * *

The Doctor and Rose spent the day in a small store cupboard, in the Adipose Industries building, where they picnicked on sandwiches, and drank tea from a thermos. Rose made herself comfortable, resting her head on his shoulder and had a little snooze, whilst he used his sonic screwdriver to hack into the buildings computer system.

When she roused again, he taught her a form of Gallifreyan meditation which seemed to make the time inside the cupboard pass more quickly than outside, so that after a quick bit of cuddling and canoodling, it was time to go to work.

They made their way up to the plant room on the roof and the Doctor led the way over to the window cleaner's cradle, which hung over the edge of the building.

'Oof. That's a bit high,' he said as he looked over the edge.

'Not as high as the Empire State,' Rose reminded him.

'No,' he agreed. 'Right, in you get,' he said cheerfully.

'What for?'

'We're going down to Miss Foster's office.' They climbed in, and he started the winch to lower them down the side of the building.

Each office they went past was dark and uninhabited, as all the staff had gone home. Well, not ALL the staff. He stopped the cradle at a window where the lights were on, and it was obviously an executive office. The office door opened, and Miss Foster entered, along with two of her security guards and a young woman.

They both ducked down quickly. 'That's the journalist from yesterday,' Rose whispered. 'Penny Carter, the one who's been investigatin' Adipose Industries.'

The Doctor took out his stethoscope and put it against the glass of the building.

'You can't tie me up. What sort of a country do you think this is?'

'Oh, it's a beautifully fat country. And believe me, I've travelled a long way to find obesity on this scale.'

'So, come on then, Miss Foster, those pills. What are they?'

'Well, you might just as well have a scoop, since you'll never see it printed. This is the spark of life.'

'And what's that supposed to mean?'

'Officially, the capsule attracts all the fat cells and flushes them away. Well, it certainly attracts them. That part's true. But it binds the fat together and galvanises it to form a body.'

'What do you mean, a body?'

'I am surprised you never asked about my name. I chose it well. Foster. As in foster mother. And these are my children.'

The Doctor heard a draw open, and a squeaking, mewing sound.

'You're kidding me. What the hell is that?' he heard the journalist say.

Rose had a raised eyebrow, questioning look on her face as she saw his puzzled frown. They both carefully peeped through the window. On the desk was a small, grey, cuboid life form.

'Adipose. It's called an Adipose. Made out of living fat.'

'But I don't understand.'

'From ordinary human people,' Foster told her.

The Doctor felt a tap on his shoulder. 'Doctor, isn't that the bride we rescued last Christmas? Donna Noble?'

'Eh?' He looked in the direction that she was nodding, and the woman looking through the round window in the door saw them.

'Donna?' he asked.

['Doctor?'] She mouthed. ['Rose? It's you!']

'But what?' he asked.

'What?' Rose asked.

They looked at each other. 'What?' they asked together.

['Oh . . . my . . . God!']

'But how?' he asked.

['It's me!'] Donna mouthed pointing to herself.

'Yes, we can see that,' the Doctor said.

'Hiya,' Rose waved cheerily.

['Oh, this is brilliant,'] Donna said with a double thumbs up.

'What the hell are you doing there?'

['I was looking for you.']

'Us?' Rose said pointing to herself. 'What for?'

['I read it on the internet. Weird. Crept along. Heard them talking. Hid. You . . .']

They realised that Miss Foster was staring at them.

'Are we interrupting you?' she asked politely.

The Doctor gave her his most common instruction. 'Run!'

'Get her,' Foster commanded.

The Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at the office door and zapped the lock.

'And them,' Foster said in annoyance as the Doctor sent the cradle back up to the roof.

The Doctor, Rose and Donna met on the stairs and had a group hug. 'Oh, my God. I don't believe it. You've even got the same suit! Don't you ever change?'

'Course he does,' Rose said. 'But I like that suit. It's tight and kinda sexy.'

'Yeah, thanks, girls. Not right now.' They heard a door open a few floors below, and the Doctor looked over the edge to see the two armed guards ascending. He gave the ladies a big grin. 'Just like old times!'

They ran out onto the roof, and the Doctor locked the door with his sonic screwdriver, as Donna explained how she came to be in the building. 'Because I thought, how do you find you two? And then I just thought, look for trouble and then you'll turn up.'

'She's got our number,' Rose laughed.

'So I looked everywhere. You name it. UFOs, sightings, crop circles, sea monsters. I looked, I found them all. Like that stuff about the bees disappearing, I thought, I bet that pair are connected. Because the thing is, Doctor, I believe it all now. You opened my eyes. All those amazing things out there, I believe them all. Well, apart from that replica of the Titanic flying over Buckingham Palace on Christmas Day. I mean, that's got to be a hoax.'

Rose snorted a laugh, and was about to put her straight on that, when he interrupted. 'What do you mean, the bees are disappearing?'

'I don't know. That's what it says on the internet. Well, on the same site, there was all these conspiracy theories about Adipose Industries and I thought, let's take a look.'

The Doctor led them over to the cradle again and sonicked the cradle controls. 'In you get!'

'What, in that thing?' she said in disgust.

'Yes, in that thing,' he told her.

'It's all right Donna. We've already been in it once,' Rose reassured her.

'But if we go down in that, they'll just call us back up again.'

'No, no, no, because I've locked the controls with a sonic cage. I'm the only one that can control it. Not unless she's got a sonic device of her own, which is very unlikely.'

Unlikely as it seemed, Miss Foster, or Matron Cofelia to use her real name did have a sonic device, and it was touch and go for a moment as to whether they would be able to escape. After a short chase, they managed to get back to the store cupboard where the Doctor and Rose had hidden earlier. The Doctor threw out the ladder, mops, and a high-vis jacket that was hanging on the wall.

'Well, that's one solution,' Donna said. 'Hide in a cupboard. I like it.'

He slid back the wall panel to reveal a tall, cylindrical, organic looking alien device that had a green glow inside it. 'I've been hacking into this thing all day, because the matron's got a computer core running through the centre of the building. Triple deadlocked.' He held up Miss Foster's sonic pen. 'But now I've got this I can get into it.'

He pulled out a few wires and connected them together. 'She's wired up the whole building. We need a bit of privacy.'

He had created a force field to stop anyone interrupting them. 'Just enough to stop them. Why's she wired up the tower block? What's it all for?'

'You look older,' Donna told the Doctor.

'Thanks,' he said in a sarcastic tone.

'You have no idea,' Rose said with a grin.

'Are you two an item yet, or are you still dancin' the Tango, if you know what I mean?'

Rose held up her left hand to show her the wedding ring. 'Yep! He finally saw sense.'

'Hah! That's brilliant.' Donna grabbed her into a hug. 'I told you, didn't I, that it wouldn't be long. You've got to tell me all about it.'

The Doctor worked on the alien machine as he spoke. 'Later maybe. I thought you were going to travel the world?'

'Easier said than done. It's like I had that one day with you, and I was going to change. I was going to do so much. Then I woke up the next morning, same old life. It's like you were never there. And I tried. I did try. I went to Egypt. I was going to go barefoot and everything. And then it's all bus trips and guidebooks and don't drink the water, and two weeks later you're back home. It's nothing like being with you. I must have been mad turning down that offer.'

'What offer?' he asked with a frown.

Rose rolled her eyes. 'Typical bloke. We asked her to come with us.'

'Come with us?'

'Oh yes, please' Donna said.

'Right,' he said distractedly.

['Inducer activated,'] the computer announced.

'What's it doin' now?' Rose asked him

'She's started the programme.'

* * *

The trio were back on the roof of the building after the Doctor managed to cancel the parthenogenesis inducer and save thousands of Londoners from being transformed into Adipose aliens. Matron Cofelia, had wired the building as a levitation post. Millions of Adipose baby aliens were now rising into the air towards the flying saucer that hovered over their heads.

'What you going to do then?' Donna asked. 'Blow them up?'

The Doctor looked horrified. 'They're just children. They can't help where they come from.'

'Oh, that makes a change from last time. Marriage must've done you good.'

'It has, yeah. Yeah,' he said, smiling at Rose.

'Good on yer Rose. You must be mad. You deserve a medal girl . . . I'm waving at fat.'

The three of them waved back at the happy Adipose babies. 'Actually, as a diet plan, it sort of works,' the Doctor said.

Matron Cofelia floated upwards below the babies. 'There she is!' Rose shouted, and she stopped at the roof level.

'Matron Cofelia, listen to me,' the Doctor told her.

'Oh, I don't think so, Doctor,' she said in a condescending tone. 'And if I never see you again, it'll be too soon.'

'Oh, why does no one ever listen? I'm trying to help. Just get across to the roof. Can you shift the levitation beam?'

'What, so that you can arrest me?'

'Just listen. I saw the Adiposian instructions. They know it's a crime, breeding on Earth. So what's the one thing they want to get rid of? Their accomplice.'

'I'm far more than that. I'm nanny to all these children.'

'Uh-oh,' Rose said. She'd seen the flaw in the matron's thinking.

'Exactly! Mum and Dad have got the kids now. They don't need the nanny anymore.'

Matron Cofelia's face fell as she realised that he was right. Then her body fell as the levitation beam switched off. They heard her scream all the way down to the street, where she suddenly stopped with a thud. The circular spaceship flew away.

Down on Brook Street, the Doctor threw Matron Cofelia's sonic pen into a waste bin. Penny Carter came along, still tied to a chair.

'Oi, you lot. You're just mad. Do you hear me? Mad! And I'm going to report you for madness,' the plucky journalist called to them as she ran away from Adipose Industries.

'You see, some people just can't take it,' Donna said with a smile.

'No,' the Doctor agreed.

'And some people can. So, then. TARDIS! Come on.' Donna had never considered herself to be brave, but, like her mother, if someone jumped the queue at the supermarket, she was up for a fight. And tonight, it had been like that, with that Miss Foster trying to turn people into little fat aliens, nobody did that in her town.

When they got to the alleyway where they'd parked the TARDIS, she stopped and looked on in amazement. 'That's my car! That is like destiny. And I've been ready for this.'

She opened the boot of the car, and started taking out bags and suitcases. 'I packed ages ago, just in case. Because I thought, hot weather, cold weather, no weather. He goes anywhere. I've gotta be prepared.'

'Blimey. You got enough stuff here?' Rose asked her with a grin.

She started loading the Doctor and Rose with her luggage. 'You've got a . . . a hatbox,' he observed, he'd never had a companion that had a hatbox before.

'Planet of the Hats, I'm ready. I don't need injections, do I? You know, like when you go to Cambodia. Is there any of that? Because my friend Veena went to Bahrain, and she . . .' She saw his face and stopped talking. 'You're not saying much.'

'No, it's just. It's a funny old life, in the TARDIS.'

'You don't want me,' Donna said sadly, after all she'd done to try and find him.

'I'm not saying that,' he started to explain.

'But you asked me,' she complained.

'But the last time, me and Rose weren't married.'

'And now we are,' Rose cut in. 'I'm a happily married woman. You're a happily married alien, I hope. And Donna would be a very happy house guest.'

'If you're sure?' he said to his wife. She smiled and nodded. 'There we are, then . . . Okay.'

'I can come?'

'Yeah. Course you can, yeah. We'd love it,' he said with a grin.

'Oh, that's just . . .' She was so excited, and relieved at the same time, she nearly hugged and kissed him, when she realised that she'd overlooked one little detail. 'Car keys.'

'What?'

'I've still got my mum's car keys . . . I won't be a minute.' She ran out of the alleyway onto Brook Street. The Doctor and Rose started taking her luggage into the TARDIS, including the hatbox.

Donna took out her mobile and phoned her mum. 'I know, Mum, I saw it, little fat people. Listen, I've got to go, I'm going to stay with Veena for a bit.'

['It was in the sky!'] Sylvia exclaimed.

'Yeah, I know, spaceship, but, I've still got the car keys. Look, there's a bin on Brook Street, about thirty feet from the corner. I'm going to leave them in there.'

['What . . . a bin?'] Sylvia asked in confusion.

'Yes, that's it, bin.'

['But you can't do that,'] she said in complaint, what was she thinking?

Donna rolled her eyes. 'Oh, stop complaining. The cars just down the road a bit. Got to go . . . really . . . got to go, bye.'

['But Donna, you can't . . .'] Donna hung up the call. Would her mum be able to find the keys? She'd better have a backup plan for her she decided, and went to a crowd of people at the police cordon, where she spotted a dark skinned man with a shaved head, wearing a dark padded coat.

'Listen; there is this woman that's going to come along. A tall blond woman called Sylvia. Tell her that bin there, all right? It'll all make sense. That bin there,' she said, pointing to the bin before heading back to the alleyway.

'Off we go, then,' she said

'Here it is . . . the TARDIS. It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside,' he said trying to give her the sales pitch.

'Oh, I know that bit, although frankly, you could turn the heating up.'

Rose snorted a laugh. "Good for you girl," she thought. Donna certainly wasn't taking any of his nonsense.

'So, whole wide universe, where do you want to go?'

'Oh, I know exactly the place.'

'Which is?'

'Two and a half miles that way.'

'Hmmm, okay then, two and a half miles that way it is.' He started the time rotor, and they felt a gentle swaying sensation as the TARDIS moved through conventional space, before coming to a stop.

'There you are then,' he said, nodding at the doors.

'Wha? I just open the doors?'

He smiled at her. 'Yeah . . . off you go.'

She walked down the ramp, pulled the door open, and gasped in amazement. There, stretched out before her was the London nightscape, a spider's web of amber street lights, the white and red moving lights of vehicles, and subtle shades of light from the windows of houses. And on the dark allotment, on the hill by their home, was the dimly visible outline of her grandfather.

She saw him look in her direction, and then stoop down to look through his telescope. She started waving, a wave that wouldn't stop, she was SO happy. She saw him hop from leg to leg in excitement and punch the air, was that a whistle and cheering she could hear? He was as happy as she was that she had finally found the man she was looking for.

'Isn't that the bloke in the news stand at Christmas? Y'know, when we beamed down from the Titanic?' Rose whispered as they waved.

'You know, I think it is. What are the chances, eh?' He went back to the console and activated the door lock mechanism, and started to put the TARDIS into the Vortex. As he made his way around the console, he nearly tripped over Donna's luggage.

'Blimey, we'd better find you a room to put all this stuff in before I trip over it and cause a paradox.'

'How many rooms have you got in this thing?' she asked, looking around the console room and spotting an opening into a corridor beyond.

'No idea,' Rose said with a smile.

'Hundreds of years of living here, and I've never counted,' the Doctor said with his own cheeky smile. 'There's plenty of guest rooms though, so let's see what the TARDIS has got for you.'

'What'cha mean, "see what the TARDIS has got for me"?'

'Oh you are gonna love this bit,' Rose told her.

He picked up some of the cases and waggled his eyebrows. 'You'll see, c'mon.'


	4. The Fires of Pompeii

**Chapter 4**

 **The Fires of Pompeii**

Donna and Rose made their way back to the console room from her new bedroom. And it was her bedroom, a near perfect copy of her room back home. The TARDIS had dipped into her memories, and recreated it for her. Donna was a bit freaked out by that at first, until Rose explained that it was the TARDIS's way of making her feel at home. While Donna unpacked, Rose had told her all about their adventures, and their wedding of course.

'So . . . where are you takin' her for her first trip?' Rose asked him with raised eyebrows.

'Oof,' he said, rubbing the back of his neck. 'There's the whole of time and space to choose from . . .'

Donna remembered that her dad used to say 'veni, vide, vici,' when he came from a football match where West Ham had won. 'What about ancient Rome, y'know, when all those ruins weren't ruins?'

'Oh brilliant! We haven't been there for ages,' Rose said.

'That's decided then,' he said, and started adjusting the controls. 'Do you want to give me a hand?' he asked Rose.

'Oh yeah!' Rose replied. When they had been on honeymoon on Limnos 4, they had used the accelerated learning experience and he had given her an introductory course on flying the TARDIS. After that, every so often, he had been giving her flying lessons .

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, and lifted a cloth that was draped over a pole, separating the alcove from the street. 'Ancient Rome,' he said with a big grin, walking down the street. 'Well, not for them, obviously. To all intents and purposes, right now, this is brand new Rome.'

'Oh, my God, it's, it's so Roman,' Donna said, looking around. She stopped and smiled at them. 'This is fantastic.' She hugged them both and they had a little laugh.

'I'm here, in Rome . . . Donna Noble in Rome.'

Rose laughed. 'Yeah. Unbelievable innit.'

'This is just weird, I mean, everyone here's dead.'

He looked around at the bustling people. 'Well, don't tell them that.' When he turned back to her, she had her head on one side, looking past his shoulder.

'Hold on a minute, that sign over there's in English.' She was reading an advertising board, painted on the side of a barrow which said "two amphorae for the price of one". 'Are you having me on? Are we in Epcot?' she asked him, feeling disappointed that they weren't actually in ancient Rome.

'No, no, no, no. That's the TARDIS translation circuits, just makes it look like English . . . speech as well,' he told her.

Rose tried to help. 'It's like when the TARDIS knew what your room looked like. She's just tryin' to be helpful. I mean, you're talkin' Latin right now.'

'Seriously?'

'Mmm.'

'I just said seriously in Latin.'

'Oh, yeah,' he said with a grin.

'What if I said something in actual Latin, like veni, vidi, vici? My dad said that when he came back from football. If I said veni, vidi, vici to that lot, what would it sound like?'

'I'm not sure,' he said with a frown. He'd never heard how he sounded to others when the TARDIS translated. 'You have to think of difficult questions, don't you?'

'Why didn't I ever think of that?' Rose asked herself.

'I'm going to try it,' she said with a hint of mischief in her voice.

'Ooh yeah,' Rose urged. 'Go on, I dare ya.'

She ambled over to a fruit seller, who had a barrow in the street.

'Afternoon, sweetheart. What can I get you, my love?' That was weird, he sounded just like a Cockney barrow boy in Spitalfields Market.

'Er, veni, vidi, vici.'

'Eh? Sorry?' he said, looking puzzled. And then he did something that any Cockney barrow boy would do when confronted with a foreigner, he started to speak slowly, enunciating each word, in the mistaken belief that it would somehow translate what he was saying. 'Me no speak Celtic . . . no can do, missy.'

'Yeah,' she said, in a way that inferred that he was a Denarius short of a full Sestertius.

Rose was in a fit of laughter as she walked back over to the them. 'How's he mean, Celtic?'

'Welsh . . . You sound Welsh . . . there we are, learnt something,' he said, which made Rose laugh even more.

They wandered off down the street, and Donna was looking at all the citizens, dressed in robes and other, well, Roman looking clothing. 'Don't our clothes look a bit odd?'

'Oh yeah,' Rose realised. 'Last time we were here, I had to wear that Roman dress and sandals.'

'That was because we were undercover and you had to look like the goddess Fortuna. Today, we're tourists, and ancient Rome . . . anything goes. It's like Soho, but bigger.' The city was used to travellers from far off lands, and different styles of dress were not uncommon.

'So, when were you here before?'

'Mmm, ages ago,' he told her, meaning ages ago in his personal timeline, not in Earth history timeline. It was all a bit timey-wimey.

''Er, hang on,' Rose said, counting on her fingers. 'In thirty nine years time.'

'Yer what?' Donna asked with a frown.

'Before you ask, that fire had nothing to do with us . . . well, a little bit with me. But I haven't got the chance to look around properly. Coliseum . . . Pantheon . . . Circus Maximus, you'd expect them to be looming by now. Where is everything?' he asked as they walked through an archway onto another street. 'Try this way.'

They were on a wider street now, and they could get a look at the surrounding scenery. 'Not an expert, but there's Seven Hills of Rome, aren't there? How come they've only got one?' Donna asked.

At that moment, the ground started to tremble.

'Here we go again,' one of the market traders called out, hanging onto his cart.

Rose started to put two and two together. 'Wait a minute, one mountain, with smoke, which makes this . . .'

The Doctor added them together and made four. 'Pompeii . . . We're in Pompeii . . . And it's volcano day.'

They made their way back to the TARDIS, and the Doctor lifted the cloth to find the TARDIS was missing.

'You're kidding,' Donna said. 'You're not telling me the TARDIS has gone.'

'Okay' the Doctor said.

'Where is it then?' Rose asked him.

'She told me not to tell.'

'Oi. Don't get clever in Latin,' Donna said.

He looked around and saw the barrow boy fruit seller. 'Hold on.' He went over to him. 'Excuse me. Excuse me. There was a box. Big blue box. Big blue wooden box, just over there. Where's it gone?'

'Sold it, didn't I?' he said smugly.

The Doctor was incredulous. 'But it wasn't yours to sell.'

'It was on my patch, weren't it? I got fifteen sesterces for it. Lovely jubbly.'

'Oh great,' Rose said, rolling her eyes. 'We had to go and land next to Delboyus Trotterius.'

'Who'd you sell it to?'

'Old Caecilius. Look, if you want to argue, why don't you take it out with him? He's on Foss Street. Big villa. Can't miss it.'

'Thanks,' the Doctor said in a "thanks for nothing" tone of voice.

They rushed about for a while, looking for Foss Street, before the Doctor bumped into Donna. 'Ha. I've got it. Foss Street's this way,' the Doctor said.

'No,' Donna said. 'Well, I found this big sort of amphitheatre thing. We can start there. We can gather everyone together. Maybe they've got a great big bell or something we could ring. Have they invented bells yet?'

'What do you want a bell for?' he asked her as Rose turned up.

'To warn everyone. Start the evacuation. What time does Vesuvius erupt? When's it due?'

'Donna . . .' Rose said quietly, trying to gently break the news that they couldn't interfere in established events.

'It's 79AD, twenty third of August, which makes volcano day tomorrow,' he said firmly.

'Plenty of time. We could get everyone out easy.'

'Yeah, except we're not going to.' He grabbed her hand and headed for Foss Street.

'But that's what you do. You're the Doctor. You save people.'

'Not this time. Pompeii is a fixed point in history. What happens, happens. There is no stopping it.'

'Says who?'

'Donna, don't!' Rose warned her.

'Says me,' he said sternly.

'What, and you're in charge?'

'TARDIS, Time Lord, yeah!'

'Donna, human, no. I don't need your permission. I'll tell them myself.'

'Donna, you can't,' Rose pleaded. 'It doesn't work like that.'

'You stand in the market place announcing the end of the world, they'll just think you're a mad old soothsayer. Now, come on . . . TARDIS. We are getting out of here.'

'Well, I might just have something to say about that, Spaceman.' she said defiantly.

'Oh, I bet you will.'

'Doctor, go easy on her. Remember it's her first trip in time,' Rose said quietly as she walked beside him.

'If she carries on like this, it'll be her last.'

* * *

'You have got to be kidding me!' Donna said, as she struggled against the ropes that held her and Rose on a sacrificial altar.

They were lying with their heads at the centre, side by side, with their wrists bound together and lashed to metal rings set into the altar top. Their ankles were secured with ropes at opposite ends.

Sister Spurrina, a soothsayer, was standing over them with a long, ceremonial dagger in her hands. 'The false prophets will surrender both their blood and their breath.'

'I'll surrender you in a minute. Don't you dare,' Donna said defiantly.

'You had to go and tell Evelina about the volcano, didn't ya?' Rose said accusingly. Evelina was the daughter of Caecilius, the man who had been sold the TARDIS.

While the Doctor had gone off with Caecilius's son Quintus to do a bit of investigating, they had been in her room doing things that girls normally did, trying on Evelina's togas, chatting about boys and stuff. Oh, and Donna had tried to warn her about the volcano.

The Doctor and Quintus had ran back into the villa, and a living rock had burst through the hypocaust under the floor. When Rose and Donna went to get some water, they were ambushed by the Sisters of the Sibylline Temple.

'You will be silent,' Spurrina commanded.

'I will not!' Rose shot back. 'Look, if you untie us now, we'll put it down to mistaken identity and say no more about it. 'Cos if you don't, and my husband hears about this . . . well, let's just say there'll be trouble.' A couple of the Sisters were already sporting black eyes under their makeup and bruised ribs under their togas from her reluctance to be tied down.

'SILENCE!' Spurrina shouted.

Right, the reasonable approach hadn't worked; now it was Donna's turn. 'Listen, sister, you might have eyes on the back of your hands, but you'll have eyes in the back of your head by the time I've finished with you. Let us go!'

'These prattling voices will cease forever,' Spurrina said as she raised the blade to stab them through their hearts.

'Oh, that'll be the day,' the Doctor said from the doorway.

Spurrina whirled around to face him. 'No man is allowed to enter the Temple of Sibyl.'

'Well, that's all right. Just us girls. Do you know, I met the Sibyl once. Yeah, hell of a woman. Blimey, she could dance the Tarantella. Nice teeth. Truth be told, I think she had a bit of a thing for me. I said it would never last. She said, I know. Well, she would.' He looked over at the ladies tied to the altar. 'You all right there?'

'Lovely thanks,' Rose said with a cheeky smile. She knew everything would be all right now.

'Oh, never better,' Donna said sarcastically. She wasn't as confident as Rose.

'I like the togas,' he told them.

'Thank you,' Rose said. She felt she carried the low cut gown off rather well.

'And the ropes?' asked Donna.

'Yeah, not so much,' he said, and then hesitated. 'Although, on Rose . . .' He waggled his eyebrows with a mischievous grin that made Rose blush.

What they got up to in the bedroom should stay in the bedroom. And anyway, it was an accident. She didn't know that a Sycorax sentient rope would tie her to the bed . . .

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and cut the ropes to free them.

'What magic is this?' Spurrina asked.

'Let me tell you about the Sibyl, the founder of this religion,' he said. 'She would be ashamed of you. All her wisdom and insight turned sour. Is that how you spread the word, eh? On the blade of a knife?'

'Yes, a knife that now welcomes you,' Spurrina threatened.

'Show me this man,' a hoarse voice wheezed from behind veils.

'High Priestess, the stranger would defile us.'

'Let me see. This one is different. He carries starlight in his wake.'

'Oh, very perceptive,' the Doctor said. 'Where do these words of wisdom come from?'

'The gods whisper to me.'

'They've done far more than that. Might I beg audience? Look upon the High Priestess?'

Two of Sisters drew the veil aside to reveal that the High Priestess sitting on the bed was living stone.

Donna gasped. 'Oh, my God.'

'What's happened to you?' Rose asked.

'The heavens have blessed me,' the High Priestess wheezed.

'If I might?' he asked, reaching out for her hand. She held out her hand for him to touch

'Does it hurt?'

'It is necessary.'

'Who told you that?'

'The voices.'

'Is that what's going to happen to Evelina?' Rose asked. 'Is this what's going to happen to all of you?'

Spurrina showed them her stone forearm. 'The blessings are manifold.'

'They're stone,' Donna said.

'Exactly. The people of Pompeii are turning to stone before the volcano erupts. But why?' said the Doctor.

'This word, this image in your mind. This volcano. What is that?' the High Priestess asked.

'More to the point, why don't you know about it? Who are you?' the Doctor asked her.

'High Priestess of the Sibylline.'

'No, no, no, no. I'm talking to the creature inside you. The thing that's seeding itself into a human body, in the dust, in the lungs, taking over the flesh and turning it into, what?'

'Your knowledge is impossible.'

'Oh, but you can read my mind. You know it's not. I demand you tell me who you are.'

The High Priestess spoke with two voices, her own and one deeper, which took over. 'We are awakening.'

''The voice of the gods,' Spurrina declared.

The Sisters, kneeling on the floor started to rock to and fro. 'Words of wisdom, words of power. Words of wisdom, words of power. Words of wisdom . . .'

'Name yourself. Planet of origin. Galactic coordinates. Species designation according to the universal ratification of the Shadow Proclamation.'

'We are rising.'

'Tell me your name!'

'Pyrovile.'

'Pyrovile. Pyrovile. Pyrovile,' the Sisters chanted as they rocked.

'What's a Pyrovile?' Rose and Donna asked together

'Well, that's a Pyrovile, growing inside her. She's a halfway stage,' he told them.

''What, and that turns into . . ?' Donna asked.

'That thing in the villa. That was an adult Pyrovile.'

The High Priestess pointed a stony finger at him. 'And the breath of a Pyrovile will incinerate you, Doctor.'

The Doctor reached inside his jacket and produced a yellow plastic water pistol. 'I warn you, I'm armed. Rose, Donna, get that grill open.'

'What for?' Rose asked him.

'Just.' He nodded at the hypocaust. 'What are the Pyrovile doing here?'

'We fell from the heavens. We fell so far and so fast, we were rendered into dust.'

'Right, creatures of stone shattered on impact. When was that, seventeen years ago?'

'We have slept beneath for thousands of years.'

'Okay, so seventeen years ago woke you up, and now you're using human bodies to reconstitute yourselves. But why the psychic powers?'

'We opened their minds and found such gifts.'

'Okay, that's fine. So you force yourself inside a human brain, use the latent psychic talent to bond. I get that, I get that, yeah. But seeing the future? That is way beyond psychic. You can see through time. Where does the gift of prophecy come from?'

'Got it,' Rose shouted, as they lifted the grating off the hypocaust.

'Now get down,' he told them.

Donna looked down into the tunnel. 'What, down there?'

'Yes, down there.'

'Come on,' Rose said, climbing over the ledge.

The Doctor was trying to work out what was going on. 'Why can't this lot predict a volcano? Why is it being hidden?'

'Sisters, I see into his mind,' Spurrina told them. 'The weapon is harmless.'

The Doctor looked at the water pistol. 'Yeah, but it's got to sting.'

He squirted the water at the High Priestess, and she howled in pain. 'Get down there!'

'You fought her off with a water pistol,' Donna said as they climbed down. 'I bloody love you.'

'Me too,' Rose said, kissing his cheek.

'This way,' he said, leading them down the tunnel.

'Where are we going now?' Rose asked.

'Into the volcano.'

Donna looked at him, open mouthed. 'No way.'

'Yes, way. Appian way.'

* * *

"Oh great!" the Doctor thought, as he led Rose and Donna into the Pyrovillian escape pod. "That's another fine mess the TARDIS has gotten me into".

'Could we be any more trapped?' Donna said as he sonicked the door shut.

'Been here before and got the T-shirt,' Rose told her.

One of the Pyroviles breathed fire on the pod, and the interior got a little uncomfortable. 'Little bit hot,' Donna said, waving her hand in front of her face.

The Doctor was examining the control panel of the pod. 'See, the energy converter takes the lava, uses the power to create a fusion matrix, which welds Pyrovile to human. Now it's complete, they can convert millions.'

'Surely you can change it, with these controls,' Rose said.

'Of course I can,' he said with urgency in his voice. 'But don't you see? That's why the soothsayers can't see the volcano . . . there is no volcano. Vesuvius is never going to erupt. The Pyrovile are stealing all its power. They're going to use it to take over the world.'

'But we know Vesuvius erupts . . . oh.' Rose realised what would happen next.

'But you can change it back,' Donna said, unaware of the consequences of that action.

'I can invert the system, set off the volcano, and blow them up, yes,' he said, and then stopped. He'd been in a situation like this before, when he'd been a renegade, and the decision he'd made nearly destroyed him. It was only the love of a pink and yellow girl that had saved him.

He looked into her eyes, trying to convey the horror of the situation. 'But, that's the choice, Donna. It's Pompeii or the world.'

'Oh, my God.' She certainly got the full horror of it all. She wondered how he lived with himself when he had to make decisions like this.

'If Pompeii is destroyed then it's not just history . . . it's me.' His voice sounded ancient and weary, his eyes looked beyond the walls of the pod, beyond time itself. 'I make it happen,' he realised.

Rose reached out and held his hand, intertwining her fingers with his. She would be there for him, by his side, no matter what.

'Doctor, the Pyrovile are made of rocks. Maybe they can't be blown up,' she said worriedly.

He knew better. 'Vesuvius explodes with the force of twenty four nuclear bombs, nothing can survive it.' There was something else, something he was reluctant to mention, after all, it was only her first trip. 'Certainly not us.'

'It's Ten Downin' Street all over again,' Rose reminded him.

'Eh?' Donna asked.

'Locked in the cabinet room. A bunch of skin wearin' aliens outside. The only way to stop them was to blow up Number Ten with an Exocet.' Rose gazed into the Doctor's eyes. 'I trusted you then, and I trust you now.'

Donna swallowed, her breath caught in her chest as her heart missed a beat. Oh God, this was nothing like having a go at a queue jumper in Tesco. There again, maybe it was, just on a different scale. An insensitive bully is an insensitive bully no matter what. When the stakes were this high, someone had to make a stand, she just hoped her mum and granddad would be proud of her.

'Never mind us,' she said in a quiet, resigned voice.

He stood there, just staring into Roses eyes. 'Push this lever and it's over . . . Twenty thousand people,' he whispered as he put his hands on the stone lever.

Rose put her hands on his and intertwined her fingers again, as she kissed him on the lips. Donna put her hands over theirs, and they all looked at each other. He suddenly had a feeling of deja vu . . . a flashback, or was it a flash-forward of a premonition? It was difficult to tell when your life didn't follow a linear path.

He was standing in front of an ornately crafted box, with his hand on a big red button. Two other people were with him, he couldn't see their faces, but he knew they were familiar. No, he was watching an old warrior with his hand on a button, wanting to help ease his burden.

['Pretending you weren't the Doctor, when you were the Doctor more than anybody else.']

['You were the Doctor on the day it wasn't possible to get it right.']

['But this time . . .']

'[You don't have to do it alone.']

They put their hands on his, to ease the burden of what he was about to do. Or did he put his hand on the warriors with the other person?

['Thank you,'] he had said, or the warrior had said to him. It was like being two people at the same time.

['What we do today is not out of fear or hatred. It is done because there is no other way.']

['And it is done in the name of the many lives we are failing to save.']

The memory, premonition was gone and forgotten as quickly as it had arrived, and looking away from each other's eyes to the lever, they pushed it down. They felt the pod surge upwards, and they were thrown about as it tumbled through the air. The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver on the control panel, and the inertial dampers kicked in, stabilising the flight and protecting them from the impact of landing.

The pod landed on the slopes of the volcano, and they tumbled out as the Doctor opened the hatch. 'It was an escape pod,' the Doctor said in surprise.

Rose looked at him in disbelief. 'You mean we did that, and you didn't know?'

'Well, it was unlikely to be a Pyrovillian tanning booth now, was it?'

'Oh, isn't that just wizard!' Donna said.

The Doctor looked up at the volcano, and saw the pyroclastic flow pouring down the slope. He grabbed the women's hands and started to run back to the town. The ash from the eruption blocked out the sunlight.

They ran along Foss Street, and into the house of Caecilius where the TARDIS was parked.

'Gods save us, Doctor,' Caecilius called out from where he and his family were cowering in a corner.

The Doctor stopped and looked at the terrified, pleading faces of this ordinary family, caught up in these extraordinary events. Were these the faces he would have seen on Gallifrey, when he pressed that big red button? He had been given this opportunity to look upon the consequences of his actions, and it filled him with guilt, remorse, and anger that he couldn't change a fixed point in time.

Once again he was all fire and ice and rage. Like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun, ancient and forever. Burning at the centre of time, seeing the turn of the universe . . . He was terrifying, and he was impotent. He couldn't bear to see those eyes looking at him; he turned and ran into the TARDIS.

'NO!' Donna screamed after him. 'Doctor, you can't.' She looked over at the family, who were waiting to die. 'DOCTOR!'

'Donna! He can't!' Rose shouted. 'He can't,' she whispered sadly, remembering how she had cradled her dying father.

A large boulder flew through the window as they heard the engines start up. Rose put an arm around her shoulders, and reluctantly, Donna allowed herself to be led into the TARDIS.

'You can't just leave them!' Donna shouted angrily from the doors.

'Don't you think I've done enough?' he said sharply. 'History's back in place and everyone dies.' He didn't look up from the console; he didn't want to see the look of loathing that would be in her eyes.

'You've got to go back. Doctor, I am telling you, take this thing back.' The TARDIS lurched, and then stabilised. 'It's not fair,' she quietly cried. Rose still had her arm around her and rubbed her arm to comfort her.

'No, it's not,' he agreed, still not able to meet her gaze.

'But your own planet,' Donna said, 'it burned.'

That comment hit Rose like a slap in the face. 'Oh Donna, that's not fair.'

That hit a raw nerve for the Doctor. He'd just seen the consequences of what he had done, then and now. Finally, he looked up from the console, and let her see the anguish that burned in his soul. 'That's just it. Don't you see, Donna? Can't you understand? If I could go back and save them, then I would. But I can't.' His voice almost broke with emotion, and then he shouted. 'I can never go back. I can't. I just can't, I can't.'

Rose rushed to him and pulled him into a fierce hug. 'Oh my Love,' she cried. 'I know . . . I know. Don't torture yourself; it's not your fault.' With tears in her eyes, she gave Donna an angry look that said, "how dare you. It wasn't his fault."

'Just someone . . . Please . . . Not the whole town, just save someone,' she sobbed.

The Doctor and Donna's eyes met across the console, her eyes, showing her disappointment in him for not saving anyone today, eyes filled with sorrow and pleading.

And then suddenly, and without warning, he remembered the Daniels family in Southampton, in 1912. He had bought their ticket off them so that they didn't travel on the Titanic . . . wasn't this the same, couldn't he save just one family so that their faces didn't haunt his nightmares.

Rose felt his body relax and she released him from her loving embrace. He kissed her on the lips. 'Thank you,' he said quietly. She was right, it wasn't his fault.

He reversed the controls, and the TARDIS lurched back into 79 A.D Pompeii. He silently looked up at Donna, his face impassive, his jaw set. He was taking a big risk, interfering with a fixed point in time, especially as it was a fixed point of his doing. He walked down the ramp and opened the door onto a scene of impending doom. The sky outside was as dark as midnight, dust and ash hung in the air.

He held out his hand. 'Come with me,' he said quietly. Caecilius reached out and clasped his hand, pulling his family to their feet and their salvation. They stepped inside the TARDIS, and if they thought Vesuvius erupting was a shock, well, this was just as bad.

'By the Gods!' Caecilius's wife Metella said. 'Are all temples and shrines bigger on the inside?'

Rose normally loved to see people's reaction to the TARDIS, but today it held no pleasure for her.

The Doctor didn't answer; he didn't want to contaminate the timeline any more than it already was. He walked up the ramp and started the time rotor, setting the coordinates to land the TARDIS on a hill overlooking Pompeii. He walked past them down the ramp and opened the door, where they looked out on a scene of utter devastation, as pyroclastic flows covered the city with ash that would hide it for nearly two thousand years.

'It's never forgotten, Caecilius,' the Doctor told him. 'Oh, time will pass . . . men'll move on, and stories will fade. But one day . . . Pompeii will be found again. In thousands of years . . . And everyone will remember you.'

'What about you, Evelina? Can you see anything?' Rose asked their daughter, who had been a soothsayer.

'The visions have gone.'

'The explosion was so powerful it cracked open a rift in time, just for a second. That's what gave you the gift of prophecy. It echoed back into the Pyrovillian alternative. But not any more. You're free.'

'But tell me,' a quiet, emotional voice asked. 'Who are you, Doctor? With your words and your temple containing such size within?'

'Oh, I was never here. Don't tell anyone,' he whispered.

'The great god Vulcan must be enraged,' Caecilius said in anger. 'It's so volcanic . . . it's like some sort of volcano.' His voice broke with emotion. 'All those people,' he sobbed, as Metella hugged him and wept.

The Doctor looked at Rose and Donna, and they silently headed back into the TARDIS

'Thank you,' Donna said.

'Yeah,' he said as he set the controls on the console.

'I'm sorry Donna, I didn't mean to shout,' Rose said.

He looked up at her. 'You were right . . . Sometimes we need someone . . . Welcome aboard.'

'Yeah.' Time travel was nothing like she'd imagined.


	5. Planet of the Ood

**Chapter 5**

 **Planet of the Ood**

Rose lay beside the Doctor in bed, her arm and leg draped over him. She was in that delicious place that was half way between asleep and awake.

'Twenty thousand,' she thought she heard him mutter, but it was all distant and echoing.

'I couldn't save them.'

'Hmmm. It wasn't your fault,' she said with a yawn.

'Eh?' he said with a frown. 'Did you say something?'

'Mornin,' she said, kissing his chest. 'Yeah, I said it wasn't your fault. You must have been talking in your sleep.'

His frown deepened. 'Yeah, I must have been,' although he knew he hadn't. He'd been awake for ages, just lying there stroking her hair, enjoying the feel of her warm body against his as he thought about Pompeii.

'Doctor?' she asked tentatively.

'Hmm, Wife?' he replied.

'I was thinkin' about what that augur, Lucius said back in Pompeii. He called me the wolf in a woman's clothing.'

'Yeah, and he said I was the man from Gallifrey and he called Donna the daughter of London.'

'Yeah. Well, I've heard that phrase before, when that Carrionite was casting a naming spell. What do you think it means? 'Cos I wasn't bitten or scratched by that werewolf in Scotland.'

'It could be an echo of the Bad Wolf message that was spread through time,' he said, hoping that was the simple explanation. Another explanation would be a whole lot harder to contemplate.

'And what do you think he meant when he said "he is returning" to me?' she asked him.

'Well that could be anyone you've met in the past.'

She laughed 'Yeah, that one was a bit Nostadamus wasn't it.' She put on a spooky voice. 'You will meet someone you've met before.'

'Oh, don't get me started on Michel de Nostradame. One evening I spent with him; one evening! It was in a tavern in Salon-de-Provence; got drunk together we did. The next thing I know, he's knocking out verbatim copies of our conversations.'

Rose laughed. 'Your kiddin' right?'

He just gave her his knowing smile, and kissed her. 'Come on, let's go and get some breakfast, and we can see what Miss Noble wants to do today.' He climbed out of bed and started to get dressed.

'Doctor, you are kiddin'?' she asked again, as she got out of bed and put on her underwear.

After breakfast, they were all in the console room, where the Time Rotor was pumping up and down. 'So, where do you want to go today then?' the Doctor asked Donna with a smile.

'I have absolutely no idea,' she said with a laugh. 'Talk about bein' spoilt for choice. When you are confronted with a choice of any place in the whole universe, yer mind goes blank.'

'Okay, I can relate to that,' he told her. He adjusted the controls with Rose, and the TARDIS started to gently rock and sway as it made its way through the Vortex.

'Set the controls to random. Mystery tour. Outside that door could be any planet, anywhere, anywhen in the whole wide u . . .' He noticed that she looked really nervous. 'Are you all right?'

'Terrified. I mean, history's one thing but an alien planet?'

'Hey, hey,' Rose said as she went to her and held her hand. 'It's all right.'

'I could always take you home,' he offered.

'Yeah, don't laugh at me,' she said in annoyance.

'Oi!' Rose warned him. 'I remember my first alien planet. We got thrown in prison, remember?'

'Oh yeah. Justica. Fair enough,' he agreed. He turned to Donna. 'I know what it's like, everything you're feeling right now. The fear, the joy, the wonder?' he said intensely, and then raised the pitch of his voice. 'I get that.'

'And me,' Rose said with a grin.

'Seriously? After all this time?' she said excitedly.

'Yeah. Why do you think we keep going?'

'Oh, all right then, you and me both, this is barmy.' She stopped halfway down the ramp and turned to face him. 'I was born in Chiswick. I've only ever had package holidays. Now I'm here. This is so . . . I mean it's . . . I don't know, it's all sort of . . . I don't even know what the word is.' She turned around and ran to the door, pulling it open and stepping outside.

'Oh, I've got the word . . . Freezing,' she said as she looked at the frozen landscape.

'Snow!' the Doctor shouted as he stepped out behind her. 'Oh, real snow, proper snow at last . . . That's more like it, lovely, what do you think?'

'Bit cold,' she said quickly as she started to shiver. She was only wearing a thin sleeveless top with her black trousers.

'Hah! Brilliant. Real snow,' Rose said as she came out wearing her thick winter coat with a fur lined hood. She'd seen the climate report on the monitor.

'Look at that view,' he said, looking at massive icicles hanging from bridges of rock, spanning vast ravines.

'Yep . . . Beautiful . . . cold view,' she said between chattering teeth.

'Blimey. Aren't you a bit cold?' Rose asked her.

She nodded and ducked back inside the TARDIS. Rose trudged forwards through the snow to catch up with her husband, who was wandering down the snowy incline.

'Millions of planets, millions of galaxies, and we're on this one. Molto bene. Bellissimo, says Donna, born in Chiswick. All you've got is a life of work and sleep, and telly and rent and tax and takeaway dinners, all birthdays and Christmases and two weeks holiday a year, and then you end up here.'

Rose slipped her hand in his and hugged his arm as he continued. 'Donna Noble, citizen of the Earth, standing on a different planet. How about that Donna?' he said, turning to look at her, but she'd gone.

'Donna?' What was the matter; didn't she like snow? He loved it, all white and fluffy and . . . well, cold.

She came out of the TARDIS in a big winter coat, the same as Rose's. 'Sorry, you were saying?'

'Better?' he asked sarcastically.

'Lovely, thanks,' she said with a happy smile.

'Comfy?'

'Yep.'

'Can you hear anything inside that?'

'Pardon?' she said with an enormous grin.

Rose laughed.

Oh yes, very clever. 'All right, I was saying, citizen of the Earth . . .'

He was interrupted by a red rocket ship gliding gracefully over their heads.

'Rocket,' she said in awe. 'Blimey, a real proper rocket. Now that's what I call a spaceship.' She slapped his chest. 'You've got a box, he's got a Ferrari.'

'Oi!' Rose said light heartedly. 'Don't let the Old Girl hear you say that. She'll never let you back on board.'

Donna grinned at her. 'Come on, let's go see where he's going.' She set off enthusiastically in the direction of the impressive ship, leaving the Doctor with a look of rocket envy on his face.

Rose giggled. 'Ah, don't worry Love. I bet his isn't bigger on the inside.' She linked arms with him and they set off after her, like parents following an excited child.

They caught up with Donna as they crossed a rock bridge, and Rose stopped, her head tilted to one side. She took down her hood. 'Where's that singin' comin' from?'

'Hold on, you can hear that?' the Doctor asked her. 'Donna, take your hood down.'

'What?'

'That noise is like a song,' he told her.

'Over there,' Rose pointed to a body partially covered in snow.

Donna looked at the body in amazement. 'What is it?'

'It's an Ood,' Rose told her.

'He's called an Ood,' the Doctor confirmed as he knelt down and checked his chest with a stethoscope.

'But it's face,' Donna said.

'Donna, don't. Not now,' he said.

'It's a he, not an it,' Rose explained to her as she stroked his face. 'Give me a hand.'

'Sorry.' She wasn't really used to aliens yet. She'd only ever met a giant spider, some little blobs of fat, and living lava. It was all a bit new to her.

'I don't know where the heart is. I don't know if he's got a heart. Talk to him, keep him going.'

'It's all right, we've got you,' Rose said soothingly.

'Er, what's your name?' Donna asked.

'Designated Ood Delta 50,' the Ood replied, his translator ball flashing as he spoke.

Donna picked up the translator ball and spoke into it. 'My name's Donna.'

Rose put a hand on her arm. 'No. No, no, no. You don't need to.'

'Sorry. Oh, God. This is Rose, and he's the Doctor. Just what you need, a doctor. Couldn't be better, hey?'

'You've been shot,' the Doctor observed.

'The circle,' Delta 50 croaked.

'No, don't try to talk,' Rose said as she stroked his forehead.

'The circle must be broken,' he continued.

'Circle? What do you mean? Delta 50, what circle . . ? Delta 50? What circle?' the Doctor asked.

Delta 50 sat up with a roar, which made them all jump back. They could see he'd got red eyes. The Doctor and Rose had seen eyes like that before, and it was not good. Delta 50 exhaled and fell back, dead.

'He's gone,' Rose said sadly. She and Donna approached the body.

'Careful,' the Doctor called to them.

'There you are, sweetheart,' said Donna.

'We were too late,' Rose told the dead Ood.

Donna looked up at the Doctor. 'What do we do, do we bury him?'

'The snow'll take care of that.'

'Who was he? What's an Ood?' Donna asked.

'They're servants of humans in the forty second century. Mildly telepathic. That was the song. It was his mind calling out.'

'Mildly telepathic?' Rose asked. 'But I could hear it. And I never heard it last time we met them.'

'Yeah,' the Doctor said with a frown.

'I couldn't hear anything,' Donna said quietly. 'He sang as he was dying.'

'His eyes turned red,' Rose noted.

'What's that mean?' asked Donna.

'Trouble,' the Doctor replied, and started walking off. 'Come on. The Ood are harmless. They're completely benign. Except, the last time we met them, there was this force, like a stronger mind, powerful enough to take them over.'

'What sort of force?'

'Oh, long story.'

'Long walk.'

'It was the Devil,' Rose told her.

'If you're going to take the mickey, I'll just put my hood back up.'

'Must be something different this time, though. Something closer to home,' the Doctor mused. 'Ah ha! Civilisation.'

The sleek rocket had landed at a futuristic base which was like an oasis of civilisation in the snowy desert. As they approached, they could see people in smart suits disembarking from the rocket and approaching a reception area.

A young Asian lady was greeting the assembled guests. 'Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Ood Sphere. And isn't it bracing? Here are your information packs, with vouchers, 3D tickets and a map of the complex. My name's Solana, Head of Marketing. I'm sure we've all spoken on the vidfone. Now, if you'd like to follow me.'

The Doctor, Rose and Donna joined the group at the last minute. 'Sorry, sorry, sorry. Late. Don't mind us. Hello. The guards let us through,' the Doctor said.

'And you would be?'

The Doctor took out his psychic paper. 'The Doctor, my wife Rose, and Donna Noble.'

'Representing the Noble Corporation PLC Limited, Intergalactic,' Donna added.

'Ooh, nice,' Rose whispered. 'You're gettin' good at this.'

'Must have fallen off my list. My apologies. Won't happen again. Now then, Mr. and Mrs. Doctor, Miss Noble, if you'd like to come with me.'

'There they go with the "Miss" again,' Donna said in an annoyed tone.

'Well, you are a Miss,' the Doctor said.

'That's not the point!'

'Of course,' Solana said. 'And here are your information packs, vouchers inside. Now if you'd like to come with me, the Executive Suites are nice and warm.' Solana opened a door into the facility, when an alarm sounded.

'Oh, what's that?' the Doctor asked. 'That sounds like an alarm.'

Solana smiled sweetly. 'Oh, it's just a siren for the end of the work shift. Now then, this way, quick as you can.'

The Doctor shrugged, and they went inside. In the presentation area of the Executive Suite, three Ood were standing on small platforms, whilst others were taking around trays of drinks.

'As you can see, the Ood are happy to serve, and we keep them in facilities of the highest standard. Here at the Double O, that's Ood Operations, we like to think of the Ood as our trusted friends,' Solana said with what they thought was a little too much sincerity.

'We keep the Ood healthy, safe, and educated. We don't just breed the Ood. We make them better. Because at heart, what is an Ood, but a reflection of us? If your Ood is happy, then you'll be happy, too.' The guests applauded, and Donna raised her hands to clap, but noticed that the Doctor and Rose had their arms crossed, with indifferent looks on their faces.

Solana stepped from behind her lectern. 'I'd now like to point out a new innovation from Ood Operations. We've introduced a variety package with the Ood translator ball. You can now have the standard setting. How are you today, Ood?'

'I'm perfectly well, thank you.'

'Or perhaps after a stressful day, a little something for the gentlemen. And how are you, Ood?'

'All the better for seeing you,' the next Ood said in a husky, female voice.

'And the comedy classic option. Ood, you dropped something.'

'D'oh,' the third Ood said in the style of Homer Simpson.

'All that for only five additional credits. The details are in your brochures. Now, there's plenty more food and drink, so don't hold back.'

Solana left the reception and the Doctor wandered over to her lectern, putting on his brainy specs and using its computer access to light up the big presentation screen and show a star field.

'Ah, got it. The Ood Sphere, I've been to this solar system before,' he said, remembering his travels in his first body.

'Really?' Rose asked. 'When was that?'

'Years ago. Ages. Close to the planet Sense Sphere. Let's widen out.' He adjusted the controls, and the star field showed a graphic of linked star systems. 'The year 4126. That is the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire.'

'4126?' Donna asked. 'It's 4126. I'm in 4126.'

Rose laughed at her amazement 'It's good, innit? I remember when we went to the fourth one.'

'What's the Earth like now?' she asked.

'Bit full,' he said, and pointed at the screen. 'But you see, the Empire stretches out across three galaxies.'

Donna looked at the screen in awe. 'It's weird. I mean, it's brilliant, but. Back home, the papers and the telly, they keep saying we haven't got long to live. Global warming, flooding, all the bees disappearing.'

The Doctor frowned. 'Yeah. That thing about the bees is odd.'

'But look at us. We're everywhere. Is that good or bad, though? I mean, are we like explorers? Or more like a virus?'

'Sometimes I wonder,' he said with a smirk.

'Oi mister. Are you callin' your wife a virus? 'Cos if you are, I'll give you such an infection . . .'

'Er, explorers. You are definitely explorers,' he said hurriedly.

Donna laughed at their friendly banter before looking at the map again. 'What are the red dots?'

'Ood distribution centres.'

'Across three galaxies?' Donna asked.

Rose was a bit troubled by the apparent trading in slaves. 'Doctor, Don't the Ood get a say in this?'

Donna wondered that as well, and went over to an Ood. 'Er, sorry, but . . .' She gently touched his arm and he turned to look at her. 'Hello. Tell me, are you all like this?' The Doctor and Rose had joined her.

'I do not understand, Miss,' the Ood said.

'Why do you say Miss? Do I look single?' Rose tried to stifle a laugh.

'Back to the point,' the Doctor said.

'Yeah. What I mean is, are there any free Ood? Are there Ood running wild somewhere, like wildebeest.'

'All Ood are born to serve. Otherwise, we would die.'

'But you can't have started like that,' Donna said.

'Before the humans,' Rose started to ask, 'what were you like?'

'The circle,' the Ood said

The Doctor's curiosity was piqued. 'What do you mean? What circle?'

'The circle. The circle is . . .'

Solana returned before the Ood could explain. 'Ladies and gentlemen. All Ood to hospitality stations, please.'

'I've had enough of the schmoozing,' the Doctor said. 'Do you fancy going off the beaten track?' He held up a map of the complex.

Solana started to herd the other guests. 'Now, if I can introduce you . . .'

'Rough guide to the Ood Sphere?' Rose asked.

'Works for me,' Donna agreed.

'Yeah.' The Doctor said as he led them out of the Executive Suite.

* * *

'Right at this moment,' Donna said in gasps as she ran. 'Schmoozing sounds pretty good.'

They were running from armed guards that had found them snooping about in one of the distribution warehouses. All of the Ood had developed the red eyed condition and had become very dangerous.

'This way,' the Doctor told them as he ducked away from an alleyway where two guards were running towards them. They arrive at a door in a cul-de-sac, and he took out his sonic screwdriver again.

'Oh, can you hear it? I didn't need the map. I should have listened,' he said.

Rose sobbed as she heard it. 'Oh God! That is so sad, it's heartbreaking.'

They went inside, and the Doctor zapped the door lock.

'Hold on. Does that mean we're locked in?'

'Listen. Listen, listen, listen, listen . . . Oh, my head.'

Donna could see them listening to something that was affecting them emotionally. She went to Rose and rubbed her arm, trying to comfort her. 'What is it?'

'Can't you hear it? The singing?' she asked her. Donna shook her head.

They walked down some steps, and the Doctor found a light switch. The dim light illuminated a huddled group of Ood in a cage, who hid their faces from them.

'They look different to the others,' Donna observed.

That's because they're natural born Ood, unprocessed, before they're adapted to slavery. Unspoilt. That's their song.'

'I can't hear it,' Donna told them.

'Do you want to?' he asked her hesitantly.

Donna wasn't sure. If it was having this effect on Rose, what would it do to her? But, she felt she owed these captives that much. 'Yeah.'

'It's the song of captivity,' Rose warned her as she wiped tears from her cheeks.

'Let me hear it.'

'Face me,' he instructed, and he put his fingertips on her temples.

'Open your mind. That's it. Hear it, Donna. Hear the music.'

She started to hear a requiem to the sadness and injustice of captivity. The song was both sad and beautiful at the same time, and immediately evoked an emotional response. Donna gasped and started to cry.

'Take it away,' she pleaded.

'Sure?'

'I can't bear it.'

He disconnected her from the telepathic field.

'I'm sorry,' she said. She felt so weak and useless.

'It's okay,' he said in support.

'But you can still hear it?'

'All the time.' And then he realised that so could Rose. If Donna couldn't bear it, what about his wife? 'Rose, are you okay?'

'No,' she said, as tears squeezed out of her eyes. He pulled her into a comforting hug. 'I'm sorry. I don't understand how you can be hearing it.'

The Doctor sonicked open the cage, as they heard attempts from outside to get the main door open.

'They're breaking in,' said Donna.

The Doctor strode into the cage. 'Ah, let them,' he said angrily. The Ood cowered in the corner.

'What are you holding?' he asked gently. 'Show me . . . Friend. Doctor, Rose, Donna. Friends. Let me see. Look at me. Let me see.' One of the Ood shuffles forward. 'That's it. That's it, go on. Go on.' The Ood opened his hands to show them what he was holding.

Donna looked at it in disbelief. 'Is that . . ?'

'It's a brain!' Rose exclaimed. 'A tiny brain.'

'A hindbrain,' the Doctor corrected her. 'The Ood are born with a secondary brain. Like the amygdala in humans, it processes memory and emotions. You get rid of that, you wouldn't be Rose or Donna anymore. You'd be like an Ood. A processed Ood.

'So the company cuts off their brains?' Donna said angrily.

'And they stitch on the translator,' he finished for her.

Donna couldn't believe it. They called it the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire, and it stank. 'Like a lobotomy. I spent all that time looking for you, Doctor, because I thought it was so wonderful out here . . .'

Like the Ood, Rose was cowering in the corner, overcome by the emotional song of the Ood, and the realisation of what was being done to them. 'All that time . . . We joked, I made fun of their name, and all the time they were being forced into slavery.'

'I want to go home,' Donna said. She could see this kind of unenlightened exploitation on her own planet, in her own time.

They heard the main door crash open. 'They're with the Ood, sir, they heard someone say as they came down the stairs.

The Doctor pulled the cage door shut. 'What you going to do, then? Arrest me? Lock me up? Throw me in a cage? Well, you're too late. Ha!'

The guards opened the cage and forced them out at gunpoint, taking them to the office of the CEO of Ood Operations, Klineman Halpen. The three of them had their wrists handcuffed behind their backs, around some pipes in the office.

'Why don't you just come out and say it?' Halpen asked them. 'FOTO activists.'

'If that's what Friends Of The Ood are trying to prove, then yes,' the Doctor said.

'The Ood were nothing without us, just animals roaming around on the ice.'

'That's because you can't hear them.'

'They welcomed it. It's not as if they put up a fight.'

'You idiot,' Donna said angrily.

Rose was just as angry, but she knew the power of calm, reasonable words. She'd learnt that much from the Doctor. 'They're born with their brains in their hands. Don't you see, that makes them peaceful. They've got to be, because a creature like that would have to trust anyone it meets.'

The Doctor looked at her with pride 'Oh, nice one.'

'Thank you.'

'The system's worked for two hundred years. All we've got is a rogue batch. But the infection is about to be sterilised,' Halpen told them. He activated his wrist communicator. 'Mister Kess. How do we stand?'

['Canisters primed, sir. As soon as the core heats up, the gas is released. Give it two hundred marks and counting.']

'You're going to gas them?' the Doctor asked angrily.

Halpen looked unconcerned. 'Kill the livestock. The classic foot and mouth solution from the olden days. Still works.'

An alarm started to sound. 'What the hell?' Halpen said, and hurried out of the office.

'Looks like the Ood have somethin' to say about that,' Rose said.

A few minutes later, Halpen returned. 'Change of plan.'

'There are no reports of trouble off-world, sir,' Dr Ryder, the chief scientist told him. 'It's still contained to the Ood Sphere.'

'Then we've got a public duty to stop it before it spreads.'

'What's happening?' the Doctor asked him.

'Everything you wanted, Doctor. No doubt there'll be a full police investigation once this place has been sterilised, so I can't risk a bullet to the head. I'll leave you to the mercies of the Ood.'

'But Mr. Halpen, there's something else, isn't there? Something we haven't seen,' the Doctor said.

'What do you mean?' Rose asked.

'A creature couldn't survive with a separate forebrain and hindbrain, they'd be at war with themselves. There's got to be something else, a third element, am I right?'

'And again, so clever.'

'But it's got to be connected to the red eye. What is it?'

'It won't exist for very much longer . . . Enjoy your Ood.'

Halpen, Ryder, and the guards abandoned them to their fate in the office, as they started to struggle against the handcuffs.

* * *

'The Ood Brain,' the Doctor said, looking over the handrail in Warehouse 15. 'Now it all makes sense, That's the missing link. The third element, binding them together. Forebrain, hindbrain, and this, the telepathic centre. It's a shared mind, connecting all the Ood in song.

'Cargo,' a voice said from the shadows. 'I can always go into cargo. I've got the rockets, I've got the sheds. Smaller business. Much more manageable, without livestock.' It was Halpen, and he was pointing a gun at them.

'He's mined the area,' Ryder told them.

'You're going to kill it?' Rose asked.

'They found that thing centuries ago beneath the Northern Glacier,' said Halpen.

'Those pylons,' the Doctor said.

'In a circle,' Donna noticed.

Then Rose realised. 'The circle must be broken!'

'Damping the telepathic field. Stopping the Ood from connecting for two hundred years,' the Doctor explained.

'And you, Ood Sigma, you brought them here. I expected better,' Halpen told him.

'My place is at your side, sir.'

Halpen smiled. 'Still subservient. Good Ood.'

'If that barrier thing's in place, how come the Ood started breaking out?' Rose asked.

'Maybe it's taken centuries to adapt. The subconscious reaching out?' the Doctor theorised.

'But the process was too slow,' Ryder explained. 'It had to be accelerated. You should never have given me access to the controls, Mr. Halpen. I lowered the barrier to its minimum. Friends Of The Ood, sir. It's taken me ten years to infiltrate the company, and I succeeded.'

'Yes. Yes, you did,' Halpen said and threw Ryder over the walkway railing and onto the giant brain, which absorbed him.

Donna gasped in horror. 'You murdered him.'

'Very observant, Ginger. Now, then. Can't say I've ever shot anyone before. Can't say I'm going to like it. But er, it's not exactly a normal day, is it? Still.' The Doctor, ushered Rose and Donna behind him.

'Would you like a drink, sir?' Ood Sigma asked him.

'I think hair loss is the least of my problems right now, thanks,' Halpen said pointing the gun at the Doctor.

Sigma stood in front of the Doctor and held out a small shot glass. 'Please have a drink, sir.'

Halpen seemed to be faltering, as if he were ill. 'If, if you're going to stand in their way, I'll shoot you too.'

'Please have a drink, sir.'

'Have, have you poisoned me?'

'Natural Ood must never kill, sir.'

The Doctor frowned. 'What is that stuff?'

'Ood graft suspended in a biological compound, sir,' Sigma replied.

'What the hell does that mean?' Halpen demanded, holding his forehead.

'Oh, dear,' the Doctor said quietly.

'TELL ME!' Halpen shouted.

So he told him. 'Funny thing, the subconscious. Takes all sorts of shapes. Came out in the red eye as revenge, came out in the rabid Ood as anger, and then there was patience. All that intelligence and mercy, focused on Ood Sigma. How's the hair loss, Mister Halpen?'

Halpen ran his hand through his hair, and more hair came away in his hand. 'What have you done?'

'Oh, they've been preparing you for a very long time,' the Doctor told him. 'And now you're standing next to the Ood Brain, Mr. Halpen, can you hear it? Listen.'

'What have you? I'm not . . .' Halpen's face went blank, and he dropped his gun. He reached for his head and peeled the skin off. And then tentacles come out of his mouth.

'They, they turned him into an Ood?' Rose said.

'Yep,' the Doctor said with a satisfied smile.

'He's an Ood,' said Donna.

The Doctor nodded. 'We noticed.'

Halpen sneezed and a small hindbrain flopped into his hands.

'He has become Oodkind,' Sigma Ood told them. 'And we will take care of him.'

'Hah! That is SO brilliant,' Rose said, jumping up and down and clapping her hands.

Donna shook her head, trying to get her thoughts straight. 'It's weird, being with you pair. I can't tell what's right and what's wrong any more.'

'It's better that way . . . People who know for certain tend to be like Mr. Halpen,' the Doctor told her.

There was a beeping sound from the other side of the handrail. 'Oh!' he exclaimed, he'd forgotten about the explosives that had been rigged to blow up the Ood brain in the pit.

He leaned over the handrail and deactivated the timer. 'That's better.' He ran along the walkway and turned to Sigma Ood. 'And now, Sigma . . . would you allow me the honour?'

'It is yours, Doctor,' the Ood said with a bow.

'Oh, yes!' he shouted with glee, turning to the control panel. 'Stifled for two hundred years, but not any more. The circle is broken. The Ood can sing.' He snapped the switch with a flourish, and the blue electric lightning stopped.

'I can hear it!' Donna laughed with joy as a beautiful song of hope, peace, and freedom filled the very air itself.

'Come on,' he said with a smile. 'Let's go and see.'

They made their way up to ground level, and left the building, where armed guards were lowering their guns and looking around in amazement as they heard the song. It was a hymn . . . a prayer, and it would be sacrilege to defile that beautiful song with violence. The Ood were standing in a circle with their arms raised in salutation.

'That's more like it,' the Doctor said. 'Ood and man, together in peace, as equals.' He had an enormous grin on his face as they strode out into the snow, heading towards the TARDIS. He didn't have days like this very often, and it went some way to make up for not being able to save the citizens of Pompeii.

'The message has gone out . . . that song resonated across the galaxies, everyone heard it, everyone knows,' he said to Sigma and the handful of Oodkind that had come to wish them farewell. 'The rockets are bringing them back . . . the Ood are coming home.'

'We thank you, Doctor, Rose, Donna, friends of Oodkind. And what of you now? Will you stay? There is room in the song for you,' Sigma told them.

'Oh, I've, I've . . . sort of got a song of my own, thanks.'

'I think your song must end soon,' Sigma said, a hint of sadness in his electronic voice.

'Meaning?' he asked, not liking the menace implied in that statement. Rose stood beside him and put her arm around his waist, wondering what Sigma meant.

'Every song must end,' Sigma said enigmatically.

'Yeah,' he said with a frown. He put his arm around Rose's shoulders and turned to Donna. 'Uhm, what about you? You still want to go home?' he asked quietly.

She looked at them standing there together with their arms around each other. They were made for each other. The Doctor and Rose, in the TARDIS, as it should be. The stuff of legend. She felt that the legend probably didn't have room for a house guest.

She could hear the Ood song, she had felt the forgiveness of Oodkind, and she had seen the guilt and regret of the humans in the warehouse; it renewed her belief that despite the few bad people around, goodness and decency would prevail. But she also remembered the song of captivity, and she couldn't forget the emotion that evoked.

'Yeah. I think it's time to go home.'

'Then we'll be off,' he said to the Ood.

The Ood raised their hands and began to sing again. 'Take this song with you.'

'We will,' Rose said, touched by their kind offer.

'Always,' the Doctor said.

'And know this, Doctor, Rose and Donna, you will never be forgotten. Our children will sing of you, and our children's children, and the wind and the ice and the snow will carry your names forever.'

The Doctor smiled, and gently guided Rose and Donna up the slope to the TARDIS. Donna walked up the ramp, humming the Ood song of freedom, when she noticed it was echoing in her head.

'Hang on,' she said, turning to look at the Doctor and Rose, who were walking up the ramp behind her. 'Can you hear that, y'know, the tune in your head?'

He smiled at her. 'Yeah, it's the TARDIS, she's tuned in to the Ood, picked up the telepathic song, and is relaying it to our thoughts.'

Donna tilted her head to one side and listened to the internal choir of millions of Ood, all harmonising and singing harmonics. It sent a shiver down her spine, and brought tears to her eyes.

'It's so beautiful.'

The Doctor started the time rotor and put the TARDIS into the Vortex. The voices started to fade, but the song lingered in their subconscious.


	6. The Sontarem Strategem

**Chapter 6**

 **The Sontarem Strategem  
**

'Are you sure you don't want to stay?' Rose asked Donna as they walked up the ramp arm in arm to the console.

'I thought I did once,' she said quietly. 'But having spent all that time looking for you, and seeing what's out there . . . Well, we've had our own natural disasters in 2008, what with that cyclone in Burma and the earthquake in China. And there are plenty of unscrupulous people waiting to exploit the weak and vulnerable.'

'But it's not all like that,' Rose told her.

Donna smiled at her friend. 'I know. But you've shown me that one person can make a difference. And I'd like to have a go.'

'A noble quest, Donna Noble,' the Doctor said. 'And I think the United Nations could not have a better person to work for them.'

'The United Nations?' Rose asked in surprise.

'You know, 3 Whitehall Court,' he said with a smile. 'Just a suggestion though. There are other organisations that could benefit from your insight, drive and conviction.'

Donna nodded in thought and gave him a proud smile. She was going to make a difference, and she would make her mum and granddad proud.

'And as a treat, a kind of parting gift, would you and Rose like to fly home?'

Donna's jaw dropped. 'Seriously?'

'Oh yeah! That'll be awesome' Rose said.

'Right, come on then,' he said, circling the console. 'Just like an aircraft, the take offs and the landings are the tricky bits,' he started.

Donna rolled her eyes. 'I know, don't forget I've been travellin' with ya. Haven't quite got the hang of them yet, have ya?'

'Do you want to fly the TARDIS or not?' he said in a huff as Rose burst into fits of laughter. She was going to miss Donna's wit.

'Sorry . . . yes I do . . . really . . . sorry,' she said sheepishly.

'Right, so this section here controls the spatial coordinates.' Donna had a blank look on her face.

'Y'know, where you want to go, up, down, forwards, backwards, left and right,' Rose explained.

'Oh yeah, okay.'

'And this section controls the temporal coordinates, what the date is going to be when you land.'

'Got it . . . time,' she said pointing to the temporal coordinate selector. 'And space,' she concluded, pointing at the three dimensional selector.

'Hah! By jove she's got,' Rose laughed.

He scratched the back of his neck. 'Er, yeah, that's right. Oh, and some of the actuators are over a thousand years old and get a bit stuck, so they sometimes need a little tap with the mallet.'

'So that's what you call beatin' the livin' daylights out of your ship is it, a little tap? I remember when I was little; we used to have a man who would come to fix the telly. He used to bang it on the top, and bang it on the side, and it used to get the picture back.'

'There you are then, a valid technique for maintaining complex and sensitive equipment. Of course, you have to know where to hit it and how hard,' he told her in all seriousness.

'Trust me Donna, all I have to do is talk to her kindly and stroke the console and she does what I want,' Rose told her.

'Oi, who's giving this lesson?' he asked her. 'Now grab that lever there, and that knob there.' He indicated the controls for the temporal adjustments. 'You're going to balance their settings to keep us on a linear progression through time.'

'I can't believe I'm doing this!' Donna shouted excitedly.

'No, neither can I,' the Doctor said, more worried than excited. 'Oh, careful.' He hit the console with the mallet and pulled a lever, letting Donna take control again.

'Left hand down . . . left hand down! Getting a bit too close to the 1980s.'

'What am I going to do, put a dent in them?' she asked sarcastically.

'Wellll, someone did,' he said quietly. 'Right then Rose, set the coordinates for Earth, United kingdom, London, Chiswick, Brookside Road.'

'I'm on it,' she said with a frown of concentration.

He circled the console, inspecting their work like a teacher invigilating an exam, and smiled. 'Nice work. Would you like to land?'

Rose beamed a smile at him, and pulled down the materialise / dematerialise lever. The Time Rotor ground to a halt, and the TARDIS landed with a gentle "clump".

'Nice landing ladies,' he said with a smile.

'I'd better go and pack,' Donna said.

Rose linked arms with her. 'I'll give you a hand,' she offered as they walked out of the console room. 'You don't have to take everythin' y'know.'

'Really? You don't mind?'

'Nah, and it means you'll always have an open invitation to come back.'

When Donna was packed, the Doctor and Rose helped her to carry the cases, and the hat box to her front door. The Doctor pulled her into a hug. 'Thanks for everything.'

'You're welcome. And thank you for opening my eyes.'

Rose stepped in front of the Doctor and had her hug. 'You've got my number, yeah? Look after yerself, and just be . . . brilliant.'

'Oh, I will be. Just you watch.'

Rose held the Doctor's hand, and they strolled back to the TARDIS. They went up the ramp, and the Doctor started the Time Rotor when Rose's mobile started to ring.

'Don't tell me she's missin' us already,' she joked as she took out her phone. She looked at the caller display, and it said "Martha". 'Oh, it's Martha,' she told him. 'Hiya Martha, how are things?'

['Hi Rose, are you still travelling with the Doctor?'] she asked.

Rose thought that was a bit of an odd question, until she realised that she had never actually told Martha they were married. 'I should hope so, bein' as I married him.'

['Really? Oh we are going to have to have a chat about that. But for now, do you think I could talk to him?']

'Yeah, hang on.' She held out her phone for him. 'She wants to talk to ya.'

'Hello Martha, how are you?'

['Doctor? I'm bringing you back to Earth.']

'Tell me, how bad is it?' he asked, knowing that she wouldn't call if it wasn't something so big that one country couldn't handle it.

['Bad enough, UNIT have asked me to bring you in on this, I'll fill you in when you get here.']

'Doctor, what is it?' Rose asked, seeing his expression go serious. He held up his finger to say "just a minute", and went to the console.

'Okay, I've got a fix on your phone signal, see you soon.' He adjusted the temporal and spatial coordinates, and they felt the TARDIS gently sway as she changed direction and time tracks.

'So, what's up?'

'I don't know, but UNIT have asked her to contact me, so it's pretty heavy duty.'

There was a gentle bump as the TARDIS touched down, and they shut down the time rotor and console, before walking down the ramp and opening the door. He looked right, down an alley between two factory units, and then looked left, and there she was, Martha Jones.

'Martha Jones,' he said with a smile.

'Doctor,' Martha said in reply. They walked towards each other and then grinned, holding their arms out for a hug.

'A-ha . . . You haven't changed a bit,' he said lifting her off the floor.

'Neither have you,' she replied with a laugh.

'MARTHA!' Rose called out as she stepped into the alleyway and grabbed her into a hug.

'Rose, it's good to see you again. What's all this about you being married?'

'Yeah, I know. 11th of November, 1990. We got engaged and married on the same day.'

'What? How does that work then?'

'Well, he proposed after he'd been back in time to set up the wedding in secret.'

Martha smiled at him. 'You crafty old alien. You must have been pretty confident that she'd say yes.'

The Doctor shook his head. 'I've never been more scared in my life! I had no idea whether it was the right time, or whether she would say yes. All I had to go on was the clue Queen Liz gave us.'

'Oh yeah. Mistress Rose, the Doctor's wife. That is SO brilliant.'

Rose spotted the diamond ring on Martha's finger. 'And I see you haven't been idle in that department yourself. Who's the lucky man?'

'What man? Lucky what?' he asked. He really hadn't got a clue when it came to human domestic.

'She's engaged, you dope.' Martha waved her ring in front of him.

'Really? Who to?'

'Tom . . . Dr. Tom Milligan. He's in pediatrics. Working out in Africa right now, and yes, I know, I've got a doctor who disappears off to distant places. Tell me about it.'

'What's he like?' Rose asked.

'He's handsome and sort of strong,' Martha said with a desiring look in her eyes.

['Doctor Jones, report to base, please, over,'] a woman said over her walkie-talkie.

Martha took her walkie-talkie off the belt clip. 'This is Doctor Jones, operation Blue Sky is go, go, go. I repeat, this is a go.' A convoy of jeeps, trucks and a squad of UNIT soldiers went past, followed by a car with Army top brass.

A soldier called out through a loudhailer. 'All workers, lay down your tools and surrender.'

Martha spoke into her radio. 'Greyhound Six to Trap One. B Section, go, go, go. Search the ground floor. Grid pattern delta.'

'What are you searching for?' the Doctor asked her as they followed her towards the entrance of a factory that had the sign "ATMOS" on it.

'Illegal aliens,' Martha replied.

The soldier on the loudhailer spoke again. 'This is a UNIT operation. All workers lay down your tools and surrender immediately.'

'B section mobilised. E section, F section, on my command,' Martha said into her radio, as she ran off to join the troops under her command.

'Blimey! She's turned into a soldier!' Rose said.

The Doctor and Rose stood around while the UNIT operation was carried out, and waited for Martha to return. As she approached, he noticed her ID badge. 'And you're qualified now. You're a proper doctor.'

'UNIT rushed it through, given my experience in the field. Apparently someone told them about my trauma medicine on the Moon.' The Doctor tried to put on his innocent expression, as a big, black pantechnicon truck pulled up outside the factory building.

'Here we go. We're establishing a field base on site. They're dying to meet you,' she said as they walked towards the truck.

'Wish I could say the same,' he said under his breath. Rose smiled and linked her arm through his. She knew he wasn't keen on guns and soldiers.

'Operation Blue Sky complete, sir. Thanks for letting me take the lead. And, this . . . is the Doctor,' Martha said. 'Doctor, Colonel Mace.'

Mace saluted. 'Sir.'

Rose couldn't hide her smile as her husband grimaced. 'Oh, don't salute.'

'But it's an honour, sir. I've read all the files on you. Technically speaking, you're still on staff. You never resigned.'

'Oh yeah,' Rose said. 'I remember Mickey sayin' you worked for 'em when the Slitheen crashed that ship in the Thames.'

'Yeah, long time ago. Back in the 70's. Or was it the 80's? But it was all a bit more homespun back then.'

'Times have changed, sir,' Mace told him.

'Yeah, that's enough of the sir.'

'Come on, though, Doctor. You've seen it. You've been on board the Valiant.' Martha said. 'We've got massive funding from the United Nations, all in the name of Home World Security.'

'A modern UNIT for the modern world,' Mace said proudly.

'What, and that means arrestin' ordinary factory workers, in the streets, in broad daylight?' Rose asked. 'It's more like Guantanamo Bay out there. Rose, by the way, since you didn't ask. You might want to update those files, 'cos I'm his wife.'

'Yes Ma'am,' Mace said politely.

The Doctor took off his long coat and sat at one of the free terminals. 'Tell me, what's going on in that factory?'

'Yesterday, fifty two people died in identical circumstances, right across the world, in eleven different time zones,' Mace explained with a time zone map on the main view screen. 'Five a.m. in the UK, six a.m. in France, eight a.m. in Moscow, one p.m. in China.'

'You mean they died simultaneously,' the Doctor observed.

'Exactly. Fifty two deaths at the exact same moment, worldwide.'

'How did they die?'

'They were all inside their cars.'

'They were poisoned,' Martha told him. 'I checked the biopsies. No toxins. Whatever it is, left the system immediately.'

'What have the cars got in common?' the Doctor asked.

'Completely different makes. They're all fitted with ATMOS, and that is the ATMOS factory,' Martha said.

'What's ATMOS?' Rose asked.

'Oh, come on. Everyone's got ATMOS,' Martha said, but then realised that the Doctor and Rose didn't even own a car. 'Come on, I'll show you.'

Martha took them into the factory. 'Stands for Atmospheric Omission System. Fit ATMOS in your car, it reduces CO2 emissions to zero.'

'Zero? No carbon, none at all?' the Doctor asked.

Martha nodded. 'And you get sat-nav and twenty pounds in shopping vouchers if you introduce a friend.'

Mace stopped halfway along the walkway and looked out over the factory floor. 'And this is where they make it, Doctor. Shipping worldwide. Seventeen factories across the globe, but this is the central depot, sending ATMOS to every country on Earth.'

'And you think ATMOS is alien,' the Doctor said.

'It's our job to investigate that possibility. Doctor?' Mace replied.

The paratroopers were still rounding up workers as Mace led them through a plastic strip curtain.

'Come on, look lively. Up the pace, go on. We haven't got all day now,' one of the soldiers was ordering a group of workers.

They went through another plastic strip curtain, where an ATMOS device was on a table.'And here it is, laid bare. ATMOS can be threaded through any and every make of car,' said Mace.

'You must've checked it, before it went on sale,' Rose said.

'We did, Martha told them. 'We found nothing. That's why I thought we needed an expert.'

The Doctor put his brainy specs on. 'Really. who'd you get?' He looked around and saw they were all looking at him. Even his wife had a lopsided smile. 'Oh, right. Me, yes. Good.'

Martha shook her head with a bemused smile and left the office with Mace.

Rose stood beside him. 'Okay. So why would aliens be so keen on cleaning up our atmosphere?'

'A very good question.'

'Maybe they want to help. Get rid of pollution and stuff.'

'Do you know how many cars there are on planet Earth?' he asked, and Rose shook her head. 'Eight hundred million. Imagine that. If you could control them, you'd have eight hundred million weapons.'

The Doctor picked up the dismantled ATMOS, and started examining the components. 'Ionising nano-membrane carbon dioxide converter. Which means that ATMOS works. Filters the CO2 at a molecular level.'

Mace stood beside him. 'We know all that, but what's its origin? Is it alien?'

'No. Decades ahead of its time. Look, do you mind?' the Doctor said irritably. 'Could you stand back a bit?'

'Sorry, have I done something wrong?' Mace asked.

'You're carrying a gun. I don't like people with guns hanging around me, all right?'

'Rude, Doctor,' Rose chastised him quietly.

'If you insist,' Mace said huffily and walked out of the office.

'Tetchy,' Martha observed.

'Well, it's true,' he said, as he started scanning the ATMOS device with his sonic screwdriver.

'He's a good man.'

'People with guns are usually the enemy in my books. You seem quite at home.'

'Well, you got me the job. Besides, look at me. Am I carrying a gun?'

'Suppose not,' he reluctantly agreed.

'It's all right for you. You can just come and go, but some of us have got to stay behind. So I've got to work from the inside, and by staying inside, maybe I stand a chance of making them better,' she explained.

'That's what Jack did with Torchwood,' Rose reminded him. 'And he carries a gun.'

'Yeah, I suppose,' he agreed, and then smiled. 'And that's more like Martha Jones.'

She returned his smile. 'I learned from the best.'

'Wellll . . .'

He went through the plastic strip curtain to find Colonel Mace. 'So this, this ATMOS thing. Where'd it come from?'

'Luke Rattigan himself,' Mace said.

'And himself would be?'

'Come over to the mobile HQ, I'll show you his file,' Mace offered.

'You go on Doctor,' said Rose. 'I'll stay here with Martha for a bit and catch up on the gossip.'

The Doctor followed Mace out of the factory, and Rose turned to Martha. 'Martha . . . can I ask your advice on a medical matter . . ?'

In the pantechnicon truck, Mace had got Rattigan's file up on the large computer screen. 'Child genius. Invented the Fountain Six search engine when he was twelve years old. Millionaire overnight. Now runs the Rattigan Academy. A private school, educating students handpicked from all over the world.'

'A hothouse for geniuses. Wouldn't mind going there. I get lonely.'

The Doctor left the truck and headed back to the factory to find Rose, who had been helping Martha and exchanging gossip.

'You are not coming with me,' the Doctor told Mace. 'I want to talk to this Luke Rattigan, not point a gun at him.'

'It's ten miles outside London. How are you going to get there?'

'Well then, get me a jeep.'

'According to the records you travel by TARDIS.'

'Yeah, but if there is a danger of hostile aliens, I think it's best to keep a super-duper time machine away from the front lines.'

'I see. Then you do have weapons, but you choose to keep them hidden,' Mace countered. Before the Doctor could explain that the TARDIS wasn't a weapon, he summoned a driver. 'Jenkins?'

A young soldier in a UNIT, black uniform and red beret stepped forward. 'Sir.'

'You will accompany the Doctor and take orders from him,' Mace told him.

'Yeah, I don't do orders.'

'Any sign of trouble, get Jenkins to declare a Code Red. And good luck, sir,' Mace said with a salute.

'I said no salutes.'

'Now you're giving orders,' Mace said with a smirk before leaving.

'Oh, you're getting a bit cheeky, you are,' the Doctor said to himself. Against his better judgement, he was starting to like Colonel Mace.

Rose entered the loading bay, looking pleased with herself about something. 'Doctor.'

'Oh, just in time. Come on, come on, we're going to the country. Fresh air and geniuses, what more could you ask?'

Rose grinned at his enthusiasm. 'I've already got one thanks . . . a genius that is.'

'Ready when you are, sir,' Jenkins said, climbing into a Land Rover.

'What?' the Doctor asked her. He could see she was excited about something.

'Tell ya later,' she said teasingly as she climbed into the middle seat. 'Hiya. I'm Rose,' she said as the Doctor took the door seat.

'Jenkins Ma'am.'

'That's a funny first name,' The Doctor said with a cheeky grin.

Jenkins laughed and pulled out of the loading bay. 'It's Ross, sir.'

'Ah, Ross and Rose. Now, if you just drop the "sir" and "ma'am", we're all pals together,' the Doctor told him.

After driving through London to the outskirts, Ross pulled the Land Rover into the grounds of the Rattigan Academy.

'Are we nearly there yet?' Rose asked with a laugh.

Ross laughed politely and continued his commentary. 'UNIT's been watching Rattigan Academy for ages. It's all a bit Hitler Youth. Exercise at dawn and classes and special diets.'

['Turn left,'] the ATMOS unit said.

The Doctor frowned. 'Ross, one question. If UNIT think that ATMOS is dodgy . . .'

['Go straight on.']

'How come we've got it in the jeeps?' Ross finished for him. 'Yeah, tell me about it. They're fitted as standard on all government vehicles. We can't get rid of them till we can prove there's something wrong.'

['Turn right.']

'Drives me around the bend,' Ross said, with a smirk.

'Oh, nice one,' Rose laughed as they went around the bend.

'Timed that perfectly.'

'Yeah. Yeah, you did,' the Doctor agreed.

['This is you final destination.']

'Ooh, that sounds a bit ominous,' Rose said.

They got out of the Land Rover, and walked up to Rattigan who was standing still whilst his students were running around the building in orange tracksuits.

'Is it P.E? I wouldn't mind a kick around, I've got me daps on,' the Doctor said.

'I suppose you're the Doctor?' the geeky looking youth in jeans and T-shirt said.

'Hello.'

'Your commanding officer phoned ahead.'

'Ah, but I haven't got a commanding officer . . . Have you? Oh, this is Rose.'

'Hiya,' she said with a wave of her fingers.

'And Ross. Say hello, Ross.'

'Good afternoon, sir.'

The Doctor moved towards the doors of the mansion. 'Let's have a look, then. I can smell genius! In a good way.'

The Doctor made his way down a hallway and into a laboratory staffed by more young people wearing orange tracksuits. 'Oh, now, that's clever. Look. Single molecule fabric, how thin is that?! You could pack a tent in a thimble. Ooh! Gravity simulators. Terraforming, biospheres, nano-tech steel construction. This is brilliant. Do you know, with equipment like this you could, Ooh, I don't know . . . move to another planet or something?'

'If only that was possible,' Rattigan said.

'If only that WERE possible,' the Doctor corrected him. 'Conditional clause.' He gave Rose a grin, which she returned.

'I think you'd better come with me,' Rattigan said in obvious annoyance.

Rattigan took them to a recreation area, which had a swimming pool, and a strange piece of modern art in the corner.

'You're smarter than the usual UNIT grunts, I'll give you that,' Rattigan said.

'He called you a grunt. Don't call Ross a grunt. He's nice. We like Ross, don't we Rose.'

'Yeah, he's lovely,' she agreed, giving Ross a smile.

'Look at this place,' the Doctor said, wandering around and inspecting the decor.

'What exactly do you want?'

'I was just thinking. What a responsible eighteen year old. Inventing zero carbon cars? Saving the world.'

'Takes a man with vision.'

'Mmm, blinkered vision. Because ATMOS means more people driving. More cars, more petrol. End result, the oil's going to run out faster than ever. The ATMOS system could make things worse.'

'Yeah. Well, you see, that's a tautology. You can't say ATMOS system because it stands for Atmospheric Emissions System. So you're just saying Atmospheric Emissions System system. Do you see, Mister Conditional Clause?'

'Ooh. Someone's had their cage rattled,' Rose said.

The Doctor just stood there, looking at him with ancient eyes. 'It's been a long time since anyone said no to you, isn't it?'

'I'm still right, though.'

'Not easy, is it . . . being clever. You look at the world and you connect things, random things, and think, why can't anyone else see it? The rest of the world is so slow.'

'Yeah,' Rattigan said quietly.

'And you're all on your own.'

'I know.'

The Doctor pulled the ATMOS device out of his pocket. 'But not with this. Because there's no way you invented this thing single handed. I mean, it might be Earth technology, but that's like finding a mobile phone in the Middle Ages.' He tossed the device to Ross, before taking Rose's hand and wandering over to the modern art, which was a cylinder on it's side, large enough to stand in.

'No, no, I'll tell you what it's like. It's like finding this in the middle of someone's front room. Albeit it's a very big front room.'

'Why, what is it?' Rose asked.

He smiled at her and waggled his eyebrows. 'Yeah, just looks like a thing, doesn't it? People don't question things. They just say, oh, it's a thing.'

'Leave it alone,' Rattigan said nervously.

The Doctor stepped into the cylinder with Rose. 'Me, I make these connections. And this, to me, looks like a teleport pod.' He pushed a button, and they disappeared from Rattigan's home, and appeared on a small platform in what was apparently a spaceship.

['Orbit now holding at five five six point three, sector two seven zero,'] a computerised voice was announcing.

'Oh!' the Doctor said in surprise, and Rose gasped. The short, helmeted soldiers in the room turned to look at them.

'We have intruders.'

'How did they get in, in tru da window? Bye, bye!' He pressed another button, and they were back in the academy, running.

'Ross, get out! Luke, you've got to come with me.' The Doctor turned back to the teleporter and took out his sonic screwdriver. Before he could disable it, one of the small soldiers appeared.

'Sontaran! That's your name, isn't it? You're a Sontaran. How did I know that, hey? Fascinating isn't it? Isn't that worth keeping me alive?'

Ross stepped forward with his sidearm raised. 'I order you to surrender in the name of the Unified Intelligence Taskforce.'

'Well that's not going to work. Cordolaine signal, am I right? Copper excitation stopping the bullets.'

'How do you know so much?'

'Der,' Rose said in derision. 'Cos he's clever.'

'Welllll.'

'Who is he?' the small alien asked Rattigan.

'He didn't give his name.'

'But this isn't typical Sontaran behaviour, is it? Hiding? Using teenagers, stopping bullets? A Sontaran should face bullets with dignity. Shame on you.'

'You dishonour me, sir.'

'Yeah? Then show yourself.'

'I will look into my enemy's eyes!' The Sontaran removed his helmet to reveal an angry looking "Mr. Potato Head".

'Oh, my God!' Ross said, still pointing his weapon at the Sontaran.

'And your name?'

'General Staal, of the Tenth Sontaran Fleet . . . Staal the Undefeated.'

'Oh, that's not a very good nickname. What if you do get defeated? Staal the Not Quite So Undefeated Anymore But Never Mind?' Both Rose and Ross tried unsuccessfully to suppress a laugh.

'He's like a potato. A baked potato. A talking baked potato,' Ross said.

The Doctor spotted a squash racket and ball resting against a chair, and wandered over to pick them up. 'Now, Ross, don't be rude. You look like a pink weasel to him.'

The Doctor picked up a squash racket and ball, and strolled back over to Rose, leaning on her shoulder and twiddling the racket around his fingers. 'The Sontarans are the finest soldiers in the galaxy, dedicated to a life of warfare. A clone race, grown in batches of millions with only one weakness.'

'Sontarans have no weakness.'

'No, it's a good weakness,' the Doctor conceded.

'Aren't you meant to be clever?' Rattigan said tersely. 'Only an idiot would provoke him.'

The Doctor continued, unperturbed. 'No, but the Sontarans are fed by a probic vent in the back of their neck. That's their weak spot. Which means, they always have to face their enemies in battle . . . Isn't that brilliant? They can never turn their backs.'

'We stare into the face of death.'

'Yeah? Well, stare at this.' The Doctor smashed the ball into the back of the teleport, where it rebounded and hit Staal right on the probic vent. That's gotta hurt.

'RUN!' The Doctor shouted, and they ran out of the room, as Staal slumped to his knees, with Rattigan trying to support him.

'What have you done? What has he done?' they heard Rattigan asking as they ran.

Outside, they jumped into the Land Rover, and Ross floored the accelerator. The Doctor picked up the walkie-talkie. 'Greyhound Forty to Trap One. Repeat, can you hear me? Over.'

'Why's it not working?' Ross asked.

'Is it those Sontarans? Can they block the signal?' Rose asked.

'It must be them. If they can trace that, they can isolate the ATMOS' the Doctor replied.

['Turn left,'] the ATMOS instructed.

'Try going right,' the Doctor told Ross.

'It said left.'

'I know. So go right.'

Ross tried to turn to the right. 'I've got no control. It's driving itself.' He took his hands off the steering wheel to prove it, and the vehicle continued on its own. 'It won't stop.'

The Doctor tried to sonic the ATMOS, and the doors locked.

'The doors are locked,' Ross called out in alarm as he tried the handle.

'Ah, it's deadlocked. I can't stop it,' the Doctor told them.

'Let me,' Rose said, and thumped the ATMOS with her palm.

['Turn left,'] the ATMOS said in response.

'The sat-nav's just a box, wired through the whole car,' the Doctor said.

'We're headin' for the river!' Rose exclaimed, as they drove across waste ground.

The Doctor addressed the ATMOS unit. 'ATMOS, are you programmed to contradict my orders?'

['Confirmed.']

'Anything I say, you'll ignore it?'

['Confirmed.']

"Brilliant!" the Doctor thought. He could out logic the logic circuits. 'Then drive into the river. I order you to drive into the river. Do it. Drive into the river.'

The Land Rover stopped at the edge of the river and the Doctor, Rose, and Ross scrambled out.

['Turn right. Left.']

'Get down!' the Doctor called out, and they threw themselves to the ground. The Doctor lay on top of Rose to protect her from the impending explosion.

They could hear the ATMOS device going haywire. ['Left, right, left, right, left, left, right, left, right . . .'] Before it went bang with a few sparks and a bit of smoke.

'Oh, was that it?' the Doctor said disappointedly.

'I'm not complainin',' Rose said from underneath him. She grabbed the lapels of his blue jacket and pulled him into a kiss. 'That was very gallant of ya.'

They stood up and looked around, before heading back to the main road. Rose reached into the pocket of her blue leather jacket and took out her mobile phone. 'I'll try and warn Martha.'

'I'll requisition us a vehicle,' Ross said as they reached the main road.

'Anything without ATMOS. And don't point your gun at people,' the Doctor told him. 'Rose, anything?'

'She's not answerin'. What is it, Sontarans?'

'Sontarans. But there's got to be more to it. They can't be just remote controlling cars. That's not enough. Is anyone answering?'

'Hold on.'

['Don't tell me. Rose Tyler,'] Martha's voice said from the phone.

Rose thought that was a bit of an odd reaction from her friend. 'Er, yeah. Near enough. Hold on, he's here.' She handed her phone to him.

'Martha, tell Colonel Mace it's the Sontarans. They're in the file. Code Red, Sontarans. But if they're inside the factory tell them not to start shooting. UNIT will get massacred. I'll get back as soon as I can. You got that?'

['Code Red Sontaran. Gotcha.']

The Doctor took the ATMOS unit out of his pocket, rested it on a wall, and started examining it with his sonic screwdriver.

'But you tried sonickin' it before. You didn't find anythin'.'

'Yeah, but now I know it's Sontaran, I know what I'm looking for.' Suddenly, five rows of eight spikes stuck out of the unit, making him jump back. 'Whoa. It's a temporal pocket. I knew there was something else in there. It's hidden just a second out of sync with real time.'

'But what's it hidin'?'

As if in answer to her question, the spikes started giving off gas.

'Get back!' he said, dragging Rose away. He zapped the ATMOS from a distance, making it flash and bang. 'That'll stop it.'

He approached the unit and sniffed the smoky air. 'That wasn't just exhaust fumes, Some sort of gas. Artificial gas.'

'But if it's poisonous, then they've got poisonous gas in every car on Earth.'

Gas started pouring from the exhaust pipes of hundreds of parked cars on the road. 'They've activated it!' he said in alarm.


	7. The Poison Sky

**Chapter 7**

 **The Poison Sky**

 **Chapter 7**

A traditional, London black Hackney cab appeared out of the smog and pulled up alongside of the Doctor and Rose. 'Doctor. This is all I could find that hasn't got ATMOS,' Ross called to them.

'Of course! No self respecting London cabbie would use a sat-nav, they've got the knowledge. Good man Ross.' He opened the door. 'Come on Rose, hop in.'

She climbed into the back of the cab, and the Doctor climbed in next to her. 'I hope he hasn't left the meter runnin',' Rose joked.

As Ross pulled away, Rose's phone started to ring, and she took it out of her jacket pocket. The caller display said Donna.

'Donna, is that you?'

['It's 'im isn't it?'] Donna said without any preamble.

'Eh?' Rose said with a frown.

['All this gas that's comin' out of the cars. It's got 'im written all over it!'] Rose heard a crash and a tinkling of glass.

[('Well, don't just stand there. Get him out!')] She heard Donna's mother, Sylvia call out.

[('Thanks,')] she heard an elderly man say.

['I can't believe you've got an axe,'] Donna said.

'Donna. What was that? Are you okay?' Rose asked with concern.

'What's wrong?' the Doctor asked her, but she put her hand up to indicate she was still listening. He leaned in close and listened to the conversation.

[('Burglars.') 'My Granddad was stuck in the car and it was fillin' with gas.']

'Tell them to get inside the house. Just try and close off the doors and windows.'

'Donna, the Doctor says . . .'

'Yeah, I heard.'

'We're gonna sort this Donna, I promise. We'll come and find you when it's over.'

Ross drove carefully through the smog to the ATMOS factory, where he pulled up at the barrier, and the Doctor and Rose climbed out.

'Ross, look after yourself. Get inside the building,' the Doctor told him.

'Will do. Greyhound Forty to Trap One. I have just returned the Doctor to base safe and sound. Over.'

Colonel Mace heard Ross's message in the mobile HQ. 'Trap One. Received. Over.'

Martha hurried into the HQ. 'Sir. Message from the Doctor. He says Code Red Sontaran.'

Mace opened a communications channel. 'All troops. Code Red Sontaran. Code Red Sontaran.'

Outside on the industrial estate, Rose was struggling to breath. 'The air is disgusting.'

The Doctor's respiratory bypass was making it easy for him to function. 'It's not so bad for me. Go on, get inside the TARDIS.'

'Where are you going?'

'To stop a war,' he said, as he ran towards the ATMOS factory and the mobile HQ, while Rose found her way to the TARDIS.

The Doctor entered the operations room. 'Right then, here I am. Good. Whatever you do, Colonel Mace, do not engage the Sontarans in battle. There is nothing they like better than a war. Just leave this to me.'

'And what are you going to do?'

'I've got the TARDIS. I'm going to get on board their ship.' He went to Martha who was sitting at a terminal. 'Come on.'

They headed out of the door, and the Doctor gave Mace a friendly slap on the back as he went past, much to his annoyance. Slaps on the back were not part of military discipline or protocol. Outside, they made their way across the factory site to the alleyway where the TARDIS was parked . . . except, it wasn't.

'But where's the TARDIS?' Martha asked, seemingly unaffected by the gas the Doctor noticed.

'Taste that, in the air. Yuck. That sort of metal tang. Teleport exchange. It's the Sontarans. They've taken it. I'm stuck on Earth like . . . like an ordinary person. Like a human. How rubbish is that? Sorry, no offence, but come on.'

'So what do we do?'

'Well, I mean, it's shielded. They could never detect it,' he said, looking at Martha knowingly.

'What?'

'I'm just wondering, have you phoned your family and Tom?'

'No. What for?'

'The gas. Tell them to stay inside.'

Martha hesitated. 'Course I will, yeah but, what about Rose? I mean, where's she?'

'Oh, I've sent her home to her family. She's not like you. She's not a soldier. Right. So. Avanti.' He started to run back to the mobile HQ.

'Change of plan,' he said as he entered the operations room.

'Good to have you fighting alongside us, Doctor,' Colonel Mace said.

'I'm not fighting. I'm not-fighting, as in not hyphen fighting, got it? Now, does anyone know what this gas is yet?' the Doctor replied.

'We're working on it,' Martha told him.

A young, female officer turned from her work station, 'It's harmful, but not lethal until it reaches eighty percent density. We're having the first reports of deaths from the centre of Tokyo City.'

'And who are you?' the Doctor asked.

'Captain Marion Price, sir,' she said with a salute, obviously full of pride in being asked who she was by the legendary Doctor.

He quickly deflated her pride. 'Oh, put your hand down. Don't salute.'

'Jodrell Bank's traced a signal, Doctor, coming from five thousand miles above the Earth. We're guessing that's what triggered the cars,' Mace announced.

'The Sontaran ship.'

'NATO has gone to Defcon One. We're preparing a strike.'

'You can't do that. Nuclear missiles won't even scratch the surface. Let me talk to the Sontarans' he said.

'You're not authorised to speak on behalf of the Earth,' Mace told him.

'I've got that authority. I earned that a long time ago.' The Doctor stuck his sonic screwdriver into the communications system. 'Calling the Sontaran Command Ship. Under Jurisdiction Two of the Intergalactic Rules of Engagement.'

On the display in the operations room, Staal smugly addressed the Doctor. ['Doctor, breathing your last?']

'My God, they're like trolls,' Mace said out loud.

'Yeah, loving the diplomacy, thanks. So, tell me, General Staal, since when did you lot become cowards?'

['How dare you!']

'Oh, that's diplomacy?' Mace asked sarcastically.

['Doctor, you impugn my honour.']

'Yeah, I'm really glad you didn't say belittle, because then I'd have a field day. But poison gas? That's the weapon of a coward and you know it. Staal, you could blast this planet out of the sky and yet you're sitting up above watching it die. Where's the fight in that? Where's the honour? Or are you lot planning something else, because this isn't normal Sontaran warfare. What are you lot up to?'

['A general would be unwise to reveal his strategy to the opposing forces.']

'Ah, the war's not going so well, then. Losing, are we?'

['Such a suggestion is impossible.']

'What war?' Mace asked.

'The war between the Sontarans and the Rutans. It's been raging, far out in the stars, for fifty thousand years. Fifty thousand years of bloodshed, and for what?'

['For victory. Sontar-ha. Sontar-ha. Sontar-ha. Sontar-ha. Sontar-ha. Sontar-ha.']

'Give me a break,' the Doctor said as he changed channels with the screwdriver, to a cartoon.

'Doctor. I would seriously recommend that this dialogue is handled by official Earth representation.'

The Doctor changed the channel back to the Sontarans. 'Finished?'

['You will not be so quick to ridicule when you'll see our prize. Behold. We are the first Sontarans in history to capture a TARDIS.']

'Well, as prizes go, that's a "marriage" made in heaven,' he said, looking up into the camera and emphasising the word marriage. 'Did you never wonder about its design? It's a phone box. It contains a phone. A telephonic device for communication. Sort of symbolic. Like, if only we could communicate, you and I.' He used his finger to point between the camera and himself.

['All you have communicated is your distress, Doctor,'] Staal said, thinking the Doctor was talking to him.

'Big mistake though, showing it to me, because I've got remote control,' he lied, waggling his sonic screwdriver between his fingers.

['Cease transmission!'] Staal commanded, and the screen went blank. The Doctor was hoping they would remove the TARDIS from the Sontaran control room.

'Ah, well,' the Doctor said to the blank screen.

'That achieved nothing,' Mace said.

'Oh, you'd be surprised.' He left the operations room, and went through to the small laboratory, where he took a clipboard off Martha.

There's carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, but ten percent unidentified. Some sort of artificial heavy element we can't trace,' she told him. 'You ever seen anything like it?'

'It must be something the Sontarans invented. This isn't just poison. They need this gas for something else. What could that be?'

'Launch grid online and active,' Price announced from the operations room.

Mace stood at the work station. 'Positions, ladies and gentlemen, Defcon One initiatives in progress.'

'What?' the Doctor said. 'I told you not to launch.'

'The gas is at sixty percent density. Eighty percent and people start dying, Doctor. We've got no choice.'

Price started the countdown. 'Launching in sixty, fifty nine, fifty eight, fifty seven, fifty six. Worldwide nuclear grid now coordinating. Fifty four, fifty three.'

'You're making a mistake, Colonel. For once, I hope the Sontarans are ahead of you.'

North America, online,' Price said as red dots appeared on a map of the world. 'United Kingdom, online. France, online. India, online. Pakistan, online. China, online. North Korea, online. All systems locked and coordinated. Launching in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five . . .'

'God save us,' Mace whispered.

'Four, three, two, one, zero.' The world map went blank.

'What is it?' Mace asked. 'What happened? Did we launch? Well, did we?'

Price checked her computer. 'Negative, sir. The launch codes have been wiped, sir. It must be the Sontarans.'

'Can we override it?' Mace enquired.

'Trying it now, sir.'

The Doctor wandered over to where Martha was standing. 'Missiles wouldn't even dent that ship, so why are the Sontarans so keen to stop you?' He looked directly at Martha. 'Any ideas?'

'How should I know?' she replied.

The Doctor knew how she would know, but said nothing. The communications console suddenly burst into life.

['Sontarans within factory grounds,'] Ross told them urgently. ['East corridor, grid six.']

'Absolute emergency. Declaring Code Red. All troops, Code Red,' Mace ordered.

'Get them out of there,' the Doctor told him.

'All troops, open fire,' Mace commanded.

Ross's voice came back over the speaker. ['Guns aren't working. Inform all troops, standard weapons do not work.'] They heard the sound of gunfire and of alien weapons. ['Tell the Doctor it's that cordolaine signal. He's the only one who can stop them.']

The speaker went silent. Colonel Mace had a hint of desperation in his voice. 'Greyhound Forty, report. Over. Greyhound Forty, report. Greyhound Forty, report . . .'

'He wasn't Greyhound Forty. His name was Ross,' the Doctor said angrily. 'Now listen to me, and get them out of there!'

'Trap One to all stations. Retreat. Order imperative. Immediate retreat . . . They've taken the factory.'

'Why? They don't need it. Why attack now? What are they up to?' the Doctor wondered. 'Times like this, I could do with the Brigadier. No offence.'

'None taken. Sir Alistair's a fine man, if not the best. Unfortunately, he's stranded in Peru.'

'Launch grid back online,' Price called out as the world map came back on the screen, only to go off again.

Price checked her screen again. 'They're inside the system, sir. It's coming from within UNIT itself.'

'Trace it. Find out where it's coming from, and quickly,' Mace told her. 'Gas levels?'

'Sixty six percent in major population areas, and rising.'

The Doctor went with Mace to his small office. 'Why are they defending the factory only after we were inside?' Mace asked him.

'Because they wanted UNIT here. You gave them something they needed. Something now hidden inside the factory. Something precious.'

'We've got to recover it. This cordolaine signal thing, how does it work?'

'It's the bullets. It causes expansion of the copper shell.'

'Excellent. I'm on it,' Mace said. He stood up and left the office.

The Doctor called after him. 'For the billionth time, you can't fight Sontarans.'

He went to the nearest UNIT officer. 'Phone. Have you got a phone?' he asked in hushed tones. 'I need your mobile. Quickly, hurry up.'

The officer handed over his phone, and the Doctor returned to Mace's office, watching Martha as he dialled his wife's phone.

While the Doctor was talking to Rose, Colonel Mace was checking his orders at the workstation. 'Counter attack,' he announced.

The Doctor paused his conversation, and ran down the few steps from Mace's office. 'I said, you don't stand a chance,' he shouted.

'Positions,' Mace ordered, handing out gas masks, and throwing one to the Doctor. 'That means everyone.'

He grabbed his long coat off the peg on the wall, and Martha stood up. 'You're not going without me.'

'Wouldn't dream of it.'

Outside, Mace held up a rifle. 'Latest firing stock. What do you think, Doctor?' he said through his mask.

The Doctor was reminded of 1940's London. 'Are you my mummy?'

'If you could concentrate. Bullets with a rad-steel coating. No copper surface. Should overcome the cordolaine signal.'

'But the Sontarans have got lasers. You can't even see in this fog. The night vision doesn't work.'

'Thank you, Doctor. Thank you for your lack of faith. But this time, I'm not listening.' He removed his gas mask.

'Attention, all troops. The Sontarans might think of us as primitive, as does every passing species with an axe to grind. They make a mockery of our weapons, our soldiers, our ideals. But no more. From this point on, it stops. From this point on, the people of Earth fight back, and we show them. We show the warriors of Sontar what the human race can do.' He spoke into his radio. 'Trap One to Hawk Major. Go, go, go.'

There was a sudden massive downdraft of wind, which blew the gas away. 'It's working. The area's clearing. Engines to maximum.'

The Doctor looked up and saw a massive floating platform hanging over their heads. 'It's the Valiant.'

'UNIT Carrier Ship Valiant reporting for duty, Doctor. With engines strong enough to clear away the fog,' Mace said, as the Doctor removed his mask.

'Whoa, that's brilliant.'

'Getting a taste for it, Doctor?' Mace asked him with a smirk.

'No, not at all. Not me.'

Mace spoke into his radio again. 'Valiant, fire at will.'

Six green beams from the Valiant converged to form one that hit the ATMOS factory. Meanwhile, UNIT soldiers used rocket launchers to blast away the loading bay doors. It was time for payback, it was the Sontaran's turn to be massacred.

'East and north secure.' Mace said as they ran through the corridors of the factory. 'Doctor?'

The Doctor went back to his phone call. 'Rose, hold on. I'm coming.' He took out his sonic screwdriver and started scanning the different corridors.

'Shouldn't we follow the Colonel?' Martha asked him.

'Nah, you and me, Martha Jones. Just like old times,' he said, reminding her of the Royal Hope Hospital and Elizabethan London.

Martha's smart phone bleeped for her attention, and she pressed the "no" option on the screen before hurrying to catch him up.

'Alien technology, this-a way,' he said and started to lead Martha down a corridor and a stairwell. 'No Sontarans down here. They can't resist a battle.' He scanned left and right. 'Here we go.'

He set off down another corridor, and came to a door, locked with a keypad. He zapped the keypad with the sonic and the door slid open.

He ran over to a frame that held a body . . . Martha's body. 'Oh, Martha, I'm so sorry.' He checked for a pulse in her neck. 'Still alive.'

He heard the click of a hammer being cocked and looked over his shoulder to see Martha pointing a gun at his head.

'Am I supposed to be impressed?'

'Wish you carried a gun now?'

'Not at all.'

'I've been stopping the nuclear launch all this time.'

'Doing exactly what I wanted. I needed to stop the missiles, just as much as the Sontarans. I'm not having Earth start an interstellar war. You're a triple agent.'

'When did you know?'

'About you? Oh, right from the start. Reduced iris contraction, slight thinning of the hair follicles on the left temple. And, frankly, you smell. You might as well have worn a T shirt saying clone. Although, maybe not in front of Captain Jack,' he said to himself. 'You never met him, did you? But you've got all her memories of everyone else. That's why the Sontarans had to protect her, to keep you inside UNIT. Martha Jones is keeping you alive.'

The Doctor took the headset off Martha's head, and her cloned doppelganger collapsed, dropping the pistol which he kicked away.

'It's all right, it's all right, I'm here, I'm here,' he said to the real Martha. 'I've got you, I've got you.'

'There was this thing, Doctor, this alien, with this head.'

The mobile phone rang and he answered the call. 'Oh! Blimey, I'm busy . . . Got it?'

['Yes. Now hurry up,'] Rose said impatiently.

'Take off the covering. All the blue switches inside, flick them up like a fuse box, and that should get the teleport working.'

'Oh, my God. That's me,' Martha gasped in surprise.

The Doctor put his coat around Martha and went to work on the teleport pod. Martha went over to look at her double.

'Don't touch me.'

'It's not my fault. The Sontarans created you, but you had all my memories.'

'You've got a brother, sister, mother and father.'

'If you don't help me, they're going to die.'

'You love them.'

'Yes. Remember that?'

'The gas. Tell us about the gas,' the Doctor said.

'He's the enemy.'

'Then tell me,' Martha said. 'It's not just poison, what's it for? Martha, please.'

'Caesofine concentrate. It's one part of Bosteen, two parts Probic five.'

'Clonefeed. It's clonefeed!' the Doctor exclaimed.

'What's clonefeed?'

'Like amniotic fluid for Sontarans. That's why they're not invading. They're converting the atmosphere, changing the planet into a clone world. Earth becomes a great big hatchery. Because the Sontarans are clones, that's how they reproduce. Give them a planet this big, they'll create billions of new soldiers. The gas isn't poison, it's food.'

'My heart. It's getting slower.'

'There's nothing I can do,' Martha told her sadly.

'In your mind, you've got so many plans. There's so much that you want to do.'

'And I will. Never do tomorrow what you can do today, my mum says, because . . .'

'Because you never know how long you've got. Martha Jones. All that life.'

The clone died, and Martha took back her engagement ring.

['Doctor. Blue switches done, but they've found me,] Rose told him, a hint of finality in her voice.

'Now!' the Doctor said as he zapped the teleport controls with his sonic screwdriver.

 **The TARDIS.**

 **The Sontaran ship.**

 **Geostationary orbit 5,000 miles above Earth.**

Rose felt the TARDIS shudder when the Sontarans teleported it to their ship. She carefully peeked out of the door and realised that she was on the Sontaran ship. Oh great! What was she going to do now?

She went back to the console, and switched on the monitor, just missing the image of Mickey Smith calling her name before the Doctor appeared. ['This is the Doctor.']

'Oh God, what's he up to now?' Rose said.

['Well, as prizes go, that's a "marriage" made in heaven,'] the Doctor said, looking directly at her and emphasising the word marriage. ['Did you never wonder about its design? It's a phone box. It contains a phone. A telephonic device for communication. Sort of symbolic. Like, if only we could communicate, you and I.'] He used his finger to point between the her and himself.

Rose realised that he was talking to her. 'Oh, my God.' She took her mobile phone out of her jacket pocket. 'But who do I phone Doctor, you haven't even got a phone.'

She could call Martha, she had her number.

"NO!" she heard a voice say, or was it a thought? She couldn't tell, but somehow she knew that she couldn't trust Martha at the moment. She sat on the jump seat, wondering what to do. She knew she had the knowledge to return the TARDIS to its last place of origin, that was one of the first things he had taught her after her determined effort to get back to him on Satellite 5. But somehow, she had the oddest feeling that he wanted her there on the Sontaran ship.

Her phone made her jump when it started ringing. She didn't recognise the number, but again for some inexplicable reason, she knew it was the Doctor. She picked up the call quickly. 'What's happened? Where are you?'

['Still on Earth. But don't worry, I've got my secret weapon.']

'What's that then?'

['You.']

'Oh great! How did I know you were gonna say that. Look, I know how to do a return to point of origin journey.'

['Yeah, I know. I need you on that ship. That's why I made them move the TARDIS. I'm sorry but you've got to go outside.']

'But there's Sontarans out there.'

['But they'll all be on battle stations right now. They don't exactly walk about having coffee. I can talk you through it.']

'But what if they find me?'

['I know Love, and I wouldn't ask, but there's nothing else I can do. The whole planet is choking, Rose.']

'What do you need me to do?'

['The Sontarans are inside the factory which means they've got a teleport link with the ship, but they'll have deadlocked it. I need you to reopen the link.']

Rose peeked outside the TARDIS and saw that It was being guarded. 'There's a Sontaran.'

['Did he see you?']

'No, he's got his back to me.'

['Right, Rose, listen. Do you remember how I whacked Staal on the back of the neck with the squash ball to bring him down?']

'Yeah, how did you do that?'

['On the back of his neck on his collar there's a sort of plug, like a hole. The Probic vent. One blow to the Probic vent knocks them out.']

Rose got the mallet that the Doctor used to hit the TARDIS console with, and sneaked outside. She crept up on the Sontaran and gave him a hefty whack on the vent. It made a satisfying, almost comical "thwonk" noise, and he went down like a . . . well, like a sack of potatoes.

'Back of the neck,' she said with a grin he could feel over the phone.

['Now then, you got to find the external junction feed to the teleport.']

'What, what's it look like?'

['A circular panel on the wall. Big symbol on the front, like a, like a letter T with a horizontal line through it. Or, or, two F's back to back.']

'Oh. Well, there's a door.'

['Should be a switch by the side.']

'Yeah there is. But it's Sontaran shaped, you need three fingers.'

['You've got three fingers,'] he said with his "dribbled down her top" tone of voice.

'Oh, yeah,' she said, slightly embarrassed at acting so blonde. She held her hand in imitation of Mr. Spock's greeting and held it on the disk. 'I'm through.'

['Oh good girl. You are brilliant, you are,'] he said in a playful voice.

'Shut up . . . Right, T with a line through it.'

['Got to go. Keep the line open.'] And then she was on her own.

It wasn't the first time she'd been on an alien space ship, and it wasn't the first time she'd been on her own with hostile aliens. But she had always known that the Doctor would come and get her. Now though, he was five thousand miles away on the planet below with no way of reaching her. She had never felt so alone, or so scared.

She heard the sound of marching footsteps coming from around the corner, and quickly ducked behind a supporting arch and crouched down. She held her breath as a dozen Sontarans marched past her, and she watched them go down the corridor.

She sat there for a long while, just listening to the hum of the ship and listening out for more footsteps. Then she stood up, took a deep breath and pulled herself together. The Doctor would be laughing at her if he could see her cowering in a corner.

'C'mon girl, you've faced Daleks in the past and survived. How bad can a bunch of angry hobbits be?' she said to herself to try and lighten her mood and dispel the feeling of dread that weighed her down. She carried on and crept around the corner with her phone pressed to her ear, waiting for her love to come back to her.

['Rose, hold on. I'm coming,'] she heard the Doctor say, and then the call disconnected.

'Hold on? That's easy for you to say,' she said to herself as she continued to creep along the corridor. If she went any further into the ship, she'd need a ball of string to find her way back.

She turned another corner, and saw a black circular panel on the wall with the symbol of a T with a line through it. 'Yes!' she breathed and performed a last number redial on her phone. She heard the "burring" sound until the call connected.

['Oh! Blimey, I'm busy'] the Doctor said abruptly. She expected a bit of support from her husband when she was roaming an alien ship full of soldiers. ['Got it?'] he asked, meaning the external junction feed to the teleport.

'Yes. Now hurry up,' Rose said impatiently. She was sure a Sontaran would come around the corner at any moment.

['Take off the covering. All the blue switches inside, flick them up like a fuse box, and that should get the teleport working.']

She got her fingernails under the lip of the panel and eased the cover off. She then flicked all the switches up, and heard footsteps behind her. 'Doctor, blue switches done,' she said quietly, a hint of sadness in her voice. 'But they've found me.'

This was it. This was goodbye. She turned around to face the two Sontarans, as they raised their weapons to shoot. She held her arms out to the side, and her head high. She was scared, but she was going to show the Sontarans that she was no coward. She wanted to make her husband proud.

The Sontarans readied their weapons and she saw a flash of white light. 'Bye my Love.'

Rose appeared in the teleport pod and realised she was still alive. Not only that, she was looking into the eyes of the man she loved. 'Have I ever told you how much I love you?' She ran forward into a hug, and they kissed passionately.

'Mmmm. Hold on, hold on. Got to bring the TARDIS down.' He went to the teleport controls and zapped it again with his sonic.

'Right, now. Martha, you coming?' he asked her.

'What about this nuclear launch thing?'

'Just keep pressing N. We want to keep those missiles on the ground.'

Rose looked at the dead clone on the floor. 'There's two of 'em.'

'Yeah, long story. Here we go. The old team, back together. Well, the new team.'

Rose and Martha joined him in the teleport pod.

'We're not goin' back on that ship!' Rose said.

'No, no, no. No. I needed to get the teleport working so that we could get to . . .' They disappeared from the large cylinder.

'Here. The Rattigan Academy, owned by . . .'

Luke Rattigan was standing by the pod pointing his gun at them.

'Don't tell anyone what I did. It wasn't my fault, the Sontarans lied to me, they . . .'

The Doctor took the gun off him and threw it away. 'If I see one more gun . . .'

Rose looked at Martha wearing the Doctor's long coat and grinned. 'You know, that coat sorta works.'

'I feel like a kid in my dad's clothes,' Martha told her.

They both looked at the Doctor and burst into fits of laughter.

In the academy's laboratory, the Doctor started building a gizmo that looked like a patio heater. 'That's why the Sontarans had to stop the missiles. They were holding back. Because caesofine gas is volatile, that's why they had to use you to stop the nuclear attack. Ground to air engagement could spark off the whole thing.'

'What, like set fire to the atmosphere?' Martha asked him.

'Yeah. They need all the gas intact to breed their clone army. And all the time we had Luke here in his dream factory. Planning a little trip, were we?'

'They promised me a new world,' he told them.

'You were building equipment, ready to terraform El Mondo Luko so that humans could live there and breathe the air with this. An atmospheric converter.'

They went outside and looked out over the smog covered landscape. 'That's London' Rose said. 'You can't even see it.'

'My family's in there,' Martha told them.

The Doctor put the atmospheric converter on the lawn in front of the academy. 'If I can get this on the right setting.'

'Doctor, hold on. You said the atmosphere would ignite,' Martha remembered.

'Yeah, I did, didn't I?' He pressed the button on the handset, and activated the atmospheric converter, which sent an energy pulse zooming up into the grungy clouds.

KaBOOM! The Doctor crossed his fingers as the fireball spread in the upper atmosphere. 'Please, please, please, please, please, please, please . . .'

The gas burned away to reveal clear blue skies.

'He's a genius,' Rattigan said in awe.

'Just brilliant,' Martha said.

'Yep,' Rose agreed, kissing him on the cheek

'Now we're in trouble,' the Doctor told them, picking up the converter and running inside. He stepped up into the tunnel-like teleport and turned to face Rose, Martha and Luke.

'Right. So, Martha . . . thank you, for everything,' he said, looking at her concerned and confused face.

'Rose, my beautiful wife, you too . . . Oh . . . so many times.' He could see by Rose's expression that she knew what he was going to do. She was shaking her head as he cupped her cheeks and kissed her on the lips.

She grabbed him and pulled him close, her tongue seeking his, not wanting to let him go. But eventually, their lips separated and she released him from the hug.

'Luke, do something clever with your life,' he said, in the tone of disappointed father talking to a wayward son.

As he adjusted the converter, Martha realised what he was up to. 'You're saying goodbye,' she whispered.

'Sontarans are never defeated,' he told them. 'They'll be getting ready for war. And, well, you know . . . I've recalibrated this for Sontaran air, so . . .' He left that sentence hanging there in front of them, he couldn't finish it.

Martha realised that it would do to the Sontaran ship what it had done to the Earth. 'You're going to ignite them.'

'You'll kill yourself,' Rose said in disbelief.

'Just send that thing up on its own . . . I don't know . . . put it on a delay,' Martha begged him.

'I can't,' he said, almost inaudible.

'Why not?' Rose asked him, although she already knew why.

'I've got to give them a choice,' he said as a matter of fact, before activating the teleport, and disappearing from their lives forever.

Rose and Martha gasped and stared at the teleport, tears stinging their eyes. He never even said goodbye.

He appeared in the teleport pod on the Sontaran ship, and put the converter on the floor, picking up the button. 'General Staal, you know what this is . . . but there's one more option. You can go . . . just leave. Sontaran High Command need never know what happened here.'

General Staal regarded him with contempt. 'Your stratagem would be wise if Sontarans feared death, but we do not. At arms.'

The Doctor heard the ship preparing for invasion. 'I'll do it, Staal; if it saves the Earth, I'll do it.'

'A warrior doesn't talk, he acts,' Staal said, as he lectured the Doctor on the basic Sontaran philosophy of war.

'I am giving you the chance to leave.' The Doctor spoke each word slowly and clearly, trying to get through Staal's thick skull.

'And miss the glory of this moment?' he said, amazed that anyone would consider missing the opportunity of a good fight.

'All weapons targeting Earth, Sir. Firing in twenty,' a voice said over the intercom.

'I'm warning you,' the Doctor shouted.

'And I salute you. Take aim.' Several helmeted troops raised their rifles, and there was the sound of breeches being loaded.

'Shoot me; I'm still going to press this. You'll die, Staal.'

'Knowing that you die too.'

'Firing in fifteen,' the intercom said.

'For the glory of Sontar. Sontar-ha. Sontar-ha. Sontar-ha.' The assembled troops started pounding their right fists into their left palms.

'I'll do it,' the Doctor shouted.

'Then do it!' Staal shouted back. He judged actions by Sontaran standards, and knew the Doctor would have pressed it by now if he was going to. Ever the optimist, he would always try to find a way that would preclude any violence or death.

'Ten,' the intercom started counting.

'Sontar-ha.'

'Nine.'

'Sontar-ha.'

'Eight.'

'Sontar-ha.'

'Seven . . .' The Doctor was surrounded by white light, and the counting stopped.


	8. The Doctor's Daughter

**Chapter 8**

 **The Doctor's Daughter**

Luke Rattigan crouched under the control panel of the teleport pod, twisting some wires together. He didn't have the luxury of a sonic screwdriver.

'What ya doin'?' Rose asked him as he stood up.

'Something clever,' he said and pressed a button on the panel. He disappeared in a haze of white light, and the Doctor landed heavily on the floor, trying to catch his breath, which seemed to be caught in his chest at the moment. Rose rushed forward and slapped his arm hard.

"Could have been worse" he thought to himself, "it could have been the face again".

She knelt in front of him, grabbed his lapels, and pulled him into a passionate kiss. When she had finished with him, she sat beside him, snuggling into his shoulder so that he could put an arm around her shoulders. Martha came and sat by him, hugging his other arm.

'So . . . where's Luke then?' he said, looking around the room.

'He did something to the teleport, and it seemed to swap you,' Martha said.

'Oh. Clever kid . . . a bit misguided, but still, a clever kid.' He stood up and started to reset the teleport.

'I suppose he wanted to make it right, y'know, all the trouble he caused,' Rose said.

'Yeah,' the Doctor said, drawing in breath. 'One hell of an act of penance.'

He operated the teleport, and took them back to the basement of the Atmos factory, where the lifeless clone of Martha was lying against a column.

'Who was she?' Rose asked them, as they walked towards the door.

'A Sontaran clone . . . Well, a Martha clone, made by Sontarans. It was preventing UNIT from taking any offensive action against them.'

Back at ground level, they saw the consequences of the Sontaran stratagem. The dead soldiers were being put in body bags, placed on stretchers, and carried away to the UNIT Lorries, where they would be taken to the county mortuary. The dead Sontarans were also placed on stretchers, but the Doctor suspected they would be going to a laboratory in UNIT headquarters.

In the TARDIS, Martha went through to the wardrobe, and Rose went to the kitchen to make them all a cup of tea. 'Don't forget we said we'd go and see Donna, see if she's all right.'

'We said?' he queried, and saw the look she gave him. 'Okay. Just a quick visit to see if she's all right then.'

Martha returned, wearing a purple top with blue jeans and boots, and a cream coloured jacket. Rose handed her a mug of tea. 'We're just popping in to see a friend of ours, and then we'll drop you off.'

The Doctor landed the TARDIS in the street, opposite Donna's house, and Rose went and rang the doorbell. The Doctor strolled across the road with his hands in his pockets, with Martha by his side. He saw the Noble's car, and poked his head through the broken windscreen. 'I hope they've got windscreen cover.'

An elderly, grey haired man answered the door who Rose recognised as the newspaper seller they had seen when they teleported from the Titanic at Christmas.

'Er, is Donna in? we're friends of hers,' Rose said.

The elderly man looked over his shoulder and called out. 'Donna? Someone to see you.' He looked back at Rose and frowned. 'Have we met before? You seem familiar.'

'Well, sort of . . . briefly.' She looked back to the road, where the Doctor and Martha were looking at their car.

Wilf saw where she was looking and walked down the path to the road to say hello to Donna's friends.

'ROSE!' Donna said as she came to the door and grabbed her in a hug. 'I don't know. Leave you two on yer own for two weeks, and you're causin' chaos again.'

They walked down the path. 'Two weeks? it's only be a few hours for us.'

'Is it him? Is it him? Is it the Doctor? Ah, it's you!' the elderly man said.

'Who? Oh, it's you,' the Doctor said, recognising the old soldier.

'What, have you met before?' Donna asked her granddad.

'Yeah, both of 'em on Christmas Eve. They disappeared right in front of me.'

'And you never said?' Donna said to her granddad.

'Well, you never said,' he retorted. 'Wilf, sir. Wilfred Mott. You must be one of them aliens.'

'Yeah, but don't shout it out. Nice to meet you properly, Wilf.' The Doctor held out his hand.

'Oh, an alien hand,' he said with a smile and shook it. 'And what about you my gal, are you an alien as well?'

Rose laughed. 'Rose, and no, I'm a London gal. I just married an alien. Pleased to meet you Mr. Mott.' She leaned forwards and kissed his cheek.

'Ooh, I like her,' he said to Donna with a chuckle, 'but please call me Wilf.' He then turned to Martha. 'Alien?' he asked with a lopsided smile.

'Granddad! Only the Doctor is an alien,' Donna told him.

Martha held out her hand. 'Martha. I'm a London girl as well . . . just a friend of theirs.' She shook his hand and kissed his cheek.

'Two kisses from two beautiful ladies. This new aftershave's workin' as advertised,' he said with a cheeky grin.

'Are you flirting again Dad,' Sylvia said as she came down the path. She saw them standing around the car. 'I don't know, men and their cars. Sometimes I think if I was a car. Oh, it's you! Doctor what was it?'

'Yeah, that's me,' the Doctor said.

Wilf looked at his daughter. 'What, have you met him as well?'

'Dad, it's the man from the wedding. When you were laid up with Spanish flu. I'm warning you, last time that man turned up it was a disaster.'

'Ah, well. The disaster's already happened and been averted this time. So that's all right then,' the Doctor said.

'Mum, leave it!' Donna told her. 'Look, let's go to your office and you can tell me all about it,' she said to the Doctor, grabbing his arm and leading him across the street towards the TARDIS. 'So who's Martha then?'

'Who's Donna?' Martha asked Rose as they followed them across the road.

The Doctor put his key in the lock. 'Donna Noble, this is Martha Jones. We met her on the Moon. Martha Jones, this is Donna Noble, we sort of gatecrashed her wedding.'

'Ohhhh, Martha on the Moon,' Donna said, remembering Rose telling her about the Royal Hope Hospital.

'Ahhhh, Donna the runaway bride,' Martha said.

'Well, that's the introductions over,' the Doctor said. 'Anyone for a cup of tea?'

They went to the kitchen, and spent a pleasant afternoon catching up and exchanging stories. When they had eventually finished, the Doctor went to the console and flew the TARDIS to Martha's new home.

'So, you going to come with us? We're not exactly short of space,' Rose asked as they went back to the console room.

'Nah, I'm good thanks,' Donna said. 'I've got this new job I'm startin' on Monday. The United Nations Association of all places. I'm workin' in Whitehall! Mum and Granddad are SO proud.'

'Quite right too,' the Doctor said with a mischievous smile. Rose looked at him questioningly. Did he have anything to do with Donna getting a job with the United Nations?

'And what about you Martha?' he asked her.

'Oh, I have missed all this, particularly after meeting Shakespeare. But, you know,' she said looking up at the time rotor. 'I'm good here, back at home. And I'm better for having been away.'

She held her left hand up, showing her engagement ring. 'Besides, someone needs me. Never mind the universe, I've got a great big world of my own now,' she said excitedly, heading for the ramp.

Before she could put a foot on the ramp, the door slammed shut on its own and the time rotor started to pump up and down, throwing everyone around.

The Doctor grabbed the monitor to see what was happening. 'What . . ? What?'

'Doctor, don't you dare!' Martha called out.

'Oi, Skinny Boy. Watcha doin'?' Donna demanded.

'No, no, no. I didn't touch anything . . . We're in flight, it's not me.'

'Where are we going?' Rose shouted.

'I don't know . . . It's out of control!'

'Doctor, just listen to me. You take me home. Take me home right now!' Donna demanded.

'That goes for me too,' Martha said.

'What the hell's it doing?' Rose asked.

'The control's not working,' he said, as he fell against the jump seat. He noticed that his 'spare' hand was bubbling away in the jar under the console. "That's odd", he thought to himself.

'I don't know where we're going, but my old hand's very excited about it.'

'your hand? What do you mean, "your hand"?' Martha asked in disbelief.

'Well,' he said as he hung on to the console.

'It got cut off. He grew a new one,' Rose explained.

'You are completely . . . impossible,' Donna said.

'Not impossible . . . just a bit unlikely,' he said as the console exploded, throwing the ladies to the floor, and the Doctor onto the jump seat. They breathed heavily, as they watched the time rotor slowly cease, bringing peace and tranquillity to the TARDIS once more.

The Doctor jumped up and ran around the console, down the ramp, and out the door. The ladies climbed to their feet and ran after him.

'Why would the TARDIS bring us here, then?' he asked, as he stepped out into a large tunnel full of junk.

'Oh, I love this bit,' Martha said.

'Yeah, me too,' Donna agreed.

'I thought you wanted to go home,' Rose reminded them.

'I know, but all the same,' Martha said.

'It's that feeling you get,' Donna said excitedly.

'Like Christmas mornin',' Rose said.

'Yeah,' Martha agreed.

'Like you swallowed a hamster?' Donna said.

"Like you swallowed a hamster?" the Doctor, Rose and Martha thought to themselves. What kind of comparison was that? Before they could pursue that line of thought, they were rudely interrupted.

'Don't move! Stay where you are! Drop your weapons,' one of three men said who were running in their direction, pointing rifles at them.

They raised their hands. 'We're unarmed. Look, no weapons, never any weapons. We're safe,' the Doctor said hurriedly.

'Look at their hands. They're clean,' another man said.

'All right, process them. Him first.'

Two soldiers shouldered their rifles and grabbed the Doctor's arms. 'Oi, oi. What's wrong with clean hands?' he asked.

'What's going on?' Martha asked them.

The Doctor had his right arm pushed into a hole in a drum-like machine.

'Leave him alone,' Rose shouted at them.

'Something tells me this isn't about to check my blood pressure. Argh!'

'What are you doing to him?' Rose asked.

'Everyone gets processed,' the leader of the small group told them.

'It's taken a tissue sample,' the Doctor informed them. 'Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. And extrapolated it. Some kind of accelerator?' The machine released his arm, and he pulled it free, examining the back of his hand, where he saw a graze, and a hint of blood.

'Are you alright?' Martha asked, as she examined his hand to see if it needed any medical attention.

He ignored Martha's question, he was distracted by an upright glass and metal cylinder that had a blue light inside it.

'What on earth? That's just . . .'

A pair of glass and metal doors opened and a figure stepped out from the steam of the brightly lit interior. She was a skinny blonde woman in combat boots, trousers, and a khaki T-shirt.

'Arm yourself,' the group leader said, and handed her a rifle.

'Where did she come from?' Donna asked.

'From me,' the Doctor said as he watched her prep the weapon. He couldn't take his eyes off her, that face was SO familiar, and he hadn't seen it for centuries.

'From you?' Rose asked. 'How? Who is she?'

He hesitated, looking sheepishly at Rose. 'Well . . . she's, well . . . she's my daughter.'

'Hello, Dad.'

'Your daughter?!'

Donna and Martha gave each other a knowing look. This was going to test the Doctor and Rose's relationship.

'You primed to take orders? Ready to fight?' the leader of the soldiers asked her.

'Instant mental download of all strategic and military protocols, sir. Generation five thousand soldier primed and in peak physical health. Oh, I'm ready,' she said standing next to the other soldiers.

'Did you say daughter?' Rose asked the Doctor, a hint of irritation in her voice. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. She wanted to give birth to his daughter, not have one appear as fully developed adult.

'Mmm. Technically,' he said casually.

'What's that supposed to mean? Technically how?'

'Progenation. Reproduction from a single organism. Means one parent is biological mother and father. You take a sample of diploid cells, split them into haploids, then recombine them in a different arrangement and grow. Very quickly, apparently.'

Rose was a bit put out at suddenly having a step daughter her own age, and was about to tell him as much, when her step daughter interrupted.

'Something's coming.'

They could see shadows on the tunnel wall, and as the figures came into view, they started firing.

'It's the Hath!' the leader called out, returning fire.

'Get down!' the Doctor's daughter told them, and they all took cover. The Hath were wearing breathing masks, but they could see they had big fish eyes and very wrinkled necks.

'We have to blow the tunnel,' the group leader told them. 'Get the detonator.'

'I'm not detonating anything, the Doctor said as he crouched down to tend to a wounded soldier.

The Hath breached the barricade and one grabbed Martha, dragging her back behind the barricade. His daughter kicked one in the chest, and then spun around, catching him on the side of the head with her boot. She grabbed the yellow detonator box with a red button on it.

'Blow the thing!' the leader said. 'Blow the thing!'

The Doctor stood up. 'Martha! No. Don't . . .'

His daughter hit the button with her palm and a klaxon sounded. Everyone ran back down the corridor before a large explosion brought the roof down.

'You've sealed off the tunnel,' the Doctor said. He turned to the blonde. 'WHY DID YOU DO THAT?' he shouted angrily.

'They were trying to kill us,' she explained, as though it should have been obvious.

'BUT THEY'VE GOT OUR FRIEND!' Rose shouted at her.

'Collateral damage. At least you've still got them,' she said to the Doctor, nodding at Rose and Donna. 'He lost both his men. I'd say you came out ahead.'

Donna was furious. 'Her name's Martha! And she's not collateral damage, not for anyone. Have you got that, GI Jane?'

'I'm going to find her,' the Doctor said in a cold, determined voice.

'No. We're gonna find her,' Rose said, taking his hand and walking towards the barricade.

The leader held up his gun and pointed it at them. 'You're going nowhere. You don't make sense, you three. No guns, no marks, no fight in you. I'm taking you to General Cobb. Now, move.'

As they were led deeper into the tunnel system, Donna fell in step beside the petite blonde. 'I'm Donna. What's your name?'

'Don't know. It's not been assigned.'

'Well, if you don't know that, what do you know?'

'How to fight,' she said proudly.

'Nothing else?' Donna asked.

The Doctor spoke from behind them. 'The machine must embed military history and tactics, but no name. She's a generated anomaly.'

'Generated anomaly,' Donna said thoughtfully. 'Generated. Well, what about that? Jenny.'

'Jenny. Yeah, I like that. Jenny.'

'What do you think, Dad?' Donna asked teasingly.

'Don't call him that!' Rose said sharply.

The Doctor squeezed her hand in support. 'Good as anything, I suppose.'

'Not what you'd call a natural parent, are you?' Donna observed.

'They stole a tissue sample at gunpoint and processed it. It's not what I call natural parenting.'

'Rubbish.' Donna said. 'My friend Nerys fathered twins with a turkey baster. Don't bother her.'

'You can't extrapolate a relationship from a biological accident,' he told her.

'Er, Child Support Agency can,' Donna informed him.

'Look, just because I share certain physiological traits with simian primates doesn't make me a monkey's uncle, does it?'

'I'm not a monkey . . . Or a child,' Jenny told them sulkily.

'No. You're a . . . a clone,' Rose said angrily. 'A thing. A soldier, created to kill. You shoot people, you blow things up. You could never be our daughter.'

Donna raised a hand to make a point. 'Er, he blows things up as well.'

Rose glared at her and she put her hands up in submission and stepped backwards. 'Oops! Bit of a family domestic . . . Sorry.'

'Our daughter?' Jenny asked. 'You're his wife?' Rose nodded, unable to speak to the generated anomaly. 'Then that makes you my mum.'

The Doctor scratched the back of his neck. 'Well . . . technically your step mum, or adoptive mum . . . maybe foster mum . . .' He looked at the expression on Rose's face and shut up.

* * *

The Doctor, Rose, and Donna had discovered that they were on the planet Messaline, and the leader of the subterranean colony was called General Cobb. Cobb had thrown them and Jenny into a cell for being subversive pacifists,

'More numbers,' Donna said, looking at a plaque over the cage they were locked in numbered 60120716. 'They've got to mean something.'

'Makes as much sense as the Breath of Life story,' the Doctor replied, referring to General Cobbs creation myth.

'You mean that's not true?' Jenny asked.

Rose gave her a "dribbled down her khaki vest" look. 'No, it's a myth. Isn't it, Doctor?'

'Yes, but there could still be something real in that temple. Something that's become a myth. A piece of technology, a weapon.'

'So the Source could be a weapon and we've just given directions to Captain Nutjob?' Donna observed.

'Oh, yes,' he said.

'Not good, is it?' Rose asked.

'That's why we need to get out of here, find Martha and stop Cobb from slaughtering the Hath.' He looked at Jenny, and she was looking at him in awe. 'What, what are you, what are you, what are you staring at?'

'You keep insisting you're not a soldier, but look at you, drawing up strategies like a proper general.'

'No, no. I'm trying to stop the fighting.'

'Isn't every soldier?'

'Well, I suppose, but that's, that's. Technically . . . I haven't got time for this. Rose, I need your phone.'

'And now you've got a weapon,' said Jenny, looking at the mobile phone.

'It's not a weapon,' Rose told her.

'But he's using it to fight back. I'm going to learn so much from you. You are such a soldier.'

'Rose, will you tell her?'

'If he is a soldier, he's a soldier of peace.'

'Oh, you are speechless,' Donna laughed. 'I'm loving this. You keep on, Jenny.' The Doctor and Rose glared at her, but she was loving it.

After speaking with Martha on Rose's phone, the Doctor realised that the two warring factions were heading for the Temple, which contained something Cobb had called the Source.

'They're getting ready to move out. We have to get past that guard,' the Doctor said.

Rose flashed him a smile and fluttered her eyelids, ready to seduce Cline, their guard, when Jenny stepped forward. 'I can deal with him.'

'No, no, no, no. You're not going anywhere,' the Doctor told her, grabbing her arm.

'What?'

'You belong here with them.'

'She belongs with us,' Donna said. 'With you. She's your daughter.'

'She's his clone,' Rose told her.

'She's a soldier. She came out of that machine,' he stated.

'Oh yes, I know that bit. Listen, have you got that stethoscope? Give it to me. Come on.' The Doctor took the stethoscope out of his jacket pocket and handed it to her.

'What are you doing?' Jenny asked nervously as Donna put the small disk on her chest.

'It's all right. Just hold still.' Donna listened to Jenny's chest. 'Come here. Listen, and then tell me where she belongs.'

The Doctor listened to her chest 'Two hearts.'

'Exactly,' Donna said.

'Really?' Rose asked him.

'What's going on?' Jenny asked.

'Does that mean she's a, what do you call a female Time Lord?' Donna asked him.

'What's a Time Lord?'

'It's who I am. It's where I'm from,' he told her.

'And I'm from you,' Jenny reasoned.

'You're an echo, that's all,' he shouted, and then calmed down as Rose slipped her arm around his waist. 'A Time Lord is so much more. A sum of knowledge, a code, a shared history . . . a shared suffering. Only it's gone now, all of it.' He was almost in tears. 'Gone forever.'

'What happened?'

'There was a war.'

'Like this one?'

That made him laugh. 'Bigger. Much bigger.'

'And you fought . . . and killed?'

He looked at her for a long time before answering in a whisper. 'Yes.'

'Then how are we different?'

Rose wiped the tears from her eyes and spoke quietly. 'Because he regrets it. He doesn't revel in it, he doesn't glory in it. He has to live with it, every minute of every day. That's how you are different.'

Jenny fell silent. They were right, she had been programmed as a soldier, and she revelled in it and gloried in it because that was all she knew. But that programming had been overlaid on the Doctor's values, and those values were now starting to emerge from the darkness of violence and aggression.

'Teach me,' she said quietly. 'Let me learn how to fight back without fighting. Let me get you out of this cell.'

'Wasn't that Bruce Lee?' Donna whispered to Rose.

Jenny turned out to be a quick learner, if a little bit rough, and they were now making their way along a corridor, trying to get to the temple before there was a bloodbath.

Jenny was chatting with Donna, who she felt was her only friend. 'And what's it like, the travelling?'

'Oh, never a dull moment. It can be terrifying, brilliant and funny, sometimes all at the same time. I've seen some amazing things though. Whole new worlds.'

'Oh, I'd love to see new worlds.'

'You will. Won't she, Doctor?'

'Hmm?'

'Do you think Jenny will see any new worlds?'

'I suppose so.'

'You mean. You mean you'll take me with you?'

'Well, we can't leave you here, can we?' he said, looking to Rose for her support. And Rose smiled at him, because since she had made her little speech and told Jenny exactly why she was nothing like the Doctor, Jenny had changed. Rose could see that she wanted to change, and was trying hard.

'Nope. Can't leave you here with all these fit, young soldiers,' she said. 'Might turn your head.'

'Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you. Come on, let's get a move on.'

'Careful, there might be traps,' the Doctor told her as she hurried ahead.

'Kids,' Donna said out loud. 'They never listen.'

Donna saw the way the Doctor and Rose were looking at her. 'Oh, I know that look. I see it a lot round our way. Blokes with pushchairs and frowns, and young girls up the duff. You've got parent-shock.'

'Parent-shock?' they said together.

'Sudden unexpected parenthood. Takes a bit of getting used to.'

'No, it's not that,' the Doctor told her.

'Well, what is it then? Having Jenny in the TARDIS, is that it? What's she going to do, cramp your style? Like you've got a sports car and she's going to turn it into a people-carrier?'

'Donna, I've been a father before.'

'What?' Donna said in surprise.

Rose nodded. He'd let it slip to her a while ago that he'd been a father once, but she hadn't pressed him on the subject because she could tell it was upsetting for him.

'I lost all that a long time ago, along with everything else.' Rose reached down and held his hand, looking into his dark, sad eyes with concern.

'I'm sorry. I didn't know. Why didn't you tell me? You talk all the time, but you don't say anything.'

'Because it's painful for him,' Rose said.

'I know. I'm just . . . When I look at her now, I can see them. The hole they left, all the pain that filled it. I just don't know if I can face that every day,' he said, looking at his rock beside him. He knew that without Rose he would fall apart.

'It won't stay like that. She'll help you,' Donna told him.

'But when they died, that part of me died with them. It'll never come back. Not now. Rose was a new start for me, a way to draw a line under it and move on.'

'I tell you something, Doctor. Something I've never told you before. I think you're wrong.'

* * *

They had made it to the Temple, except that it wasn't a temple, it was a colony space ship, and both the Humans and the Hath were trying to get in. They were on an upper deck, where the Doctor was trying to work out what had happened to the colonists.

'It's the Hath,' Jenny said, looking at the flare from a plasma torch outside. 'That door's not going to last much longer. And if General Cobb gets through down there, war's going to break out.'

'Look, look, look, look, look. Ship's log,' the Doctor said, looking at a computer terminal. The screen displayed "Messaline Leader One mission log designation XG2482942-372."

The Doctor put on his brainy specs and started reading. 'First wave of Human/Hath co-colonisation of planet Messaline. Core subterranean deployment successful. Online and active. Phase one initiated. Construction drones deployed. Construction of sections 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3C & 3D complete. Phase one in progress. Construction drones active. Construction of sections 1C, 1D, 2C, 2D, 3A & 3C complete.'

'So it is the original ship,' Jenny realised.

'What happened?' Rose asked him.

'Phase one, construction. They used robot drones to build the city.'

'But does it mention the war?' Donna wanted to know.

The Doctor scrolled down through Phase One in progress. 'Construction of western quadrant complete. Phase two initiated. Commencing colonisation protocol 0.7. Designated pioneer progenation in progress. Mission commander quarantined due to eruption of Byzantine fever. Prognosis negative.'

He scrolled down to the end of the log. 'Final entry. Mission commander dead. Still no agreement on who should assume leadership. Hath and Humans have divided into factions. That must be it. A power vacuum. The crew divided into two factions and turned on each other. Start using the progenation machines, suddenly you've got two armies fighting a never-ending war.'

'Two armies who are now both outside,' Jenny told them.

Rose went over to Donna, who was looking at a digital readout that displayed the number 60120724. 'What is it with the numbers?' Rose asked her. 'You seem obsessed with 'em.'

Donna nodded in agreement. 'Look at that,'

The Doctor and Jenny joined them. 'It's like the numbers in the tunnels,' he said.

'No, no, no, no. But listen, I spent six months working as a temp in Hounslow Library, and I mastered the Dewey Decimal System in two days flat. I'm good with numbers. It's staring us in the face.'

Jenny came and stood beside her. 'What is?'

'It's the date. Assuming the first two numbers are some big old space date, then you've got year, month, day. It's the other way round, like it is in America.'

The Doctor suddenly realised what it was. 'Oh! It's the New Byzantine Calendar.'

Donna continued to work through her reasoning. 'The codes are completion dates for each section. They finish it, they stamp the date on. So the numbers aren't counting down, they're going out from here, day by day, as the city got built.'

'Yes. Oh, good work, Donna,' the Doctor said.

'Blimey. That's brilliant!' said Rose with raised eyebrows.

'Yeah. But you're still not getting it. The first number I saw back there, was sixty twelve oh seven seventeen. Well, look at the date today.'

The Doctor read it out loud. 'Oh seven twenty four . . . No.'

'What does it mean?' Jenny asked.

'Seven days,' the Doctor said.

Donna nodded. 'That's it. Seven days.'

'Just seven days,' Rose said in realisation.

Jenny was confused. 'What do you mean, seven days?'

'Seven days since war broke out,' the Doctor explained.

'This war started seven days ago. Just a week. A week!' Donna exclaimed.

Jenny shook her head. 'They said years.'

'No, they said generations,' Donna corrected her. 'And if they're all like you, and they're products of those machines.'

'They could have twenty generations in a day. Each generation gets killed in the war, passes on the legend. Ooh, Donna, you're a genius.'

'An' there were you sayin' you were just a temp,' Rose said with a lopsided smile.

'But all the buildings, the encampments. They're in ruins,' Jenny said.

'No, they're not ruined. They're just empty. Waiting to be populated,' he explained. 'Oh, they've mythologised their entire history. The Source must be part of that too. Come on.'

They ran down a utility corridor, full of pipes and cables, when they heard someone coming down some metal stairs. Had the warring factions found another way in?

'Doctor!' Martha called out with glee.

'Martha! Oh, I should have known you wouldn't stay away from the excitement,' he said, pulling her into a hug.

'Rose, Donna,' she said and reached out to give them a group hug, when Donna held back.

'Oh, you're filthy. What happened?'

'I, er, took the surface route.'

They heard Cobb shout "Positions" from the walkways below.

The Doctor looked over the handrail. 'That's the General. We haven't got much time.'

'We don't even know what we're looking for,' Rose reminded him.

Having just come from outside, Martha's nose was clear of the smells of the ship. 'Is it me, or can you smell flowers?'

The Doctor sniffed the air. 'Yes. Bougainvillea. I say we follow our nose.' He led them up the metal stairs until they arrived in an area of the ship that seemed to be a tropical rain forest.

'Oh, yes. Yes. Isn't this brilliant?' he said as they walked along a metal walkway between the undergrowth, up to a glowing globe on a pedestal with wires running to it. There was a control panel and screen nearby.

'Is that the Source?' Rose asked him.

'It's beautiful,' Jenny said.

'What is it?' Martha asked.

'Terraforming. It's a third generation terraforming device.'

'So why are we suddenly in Kew Gardens?' Donna asked him.

'I thought it was more like the Eden Project,' Rose said.

'Ooh, good analogy,' the Doctor told her with a smile. 'Because that's what it does. All this, only bigger. Much bigger. It's in a transit state. Producing all this must help keep it stable before they finally . . .' The Hath and the soldiers ran into the area from opposite sides with weapons drawn.

The Doctor ran between them, holding his hands out. 'Stop! Hold your fire!'

'What is this, some kind of trap?' Cobb asked suspiciously.

'You said you wanted this war over,' the Doctor reminded him.

'I want this war won,' Cobb corrected him.

'Oh there ya go, splittin' hairs over the use of language again,' Rose said irritably.

The Doctor gave her an exasperated look. 'You can't win. No one can. You don't even know why you're here. Your whole history, it's just Chinese whispers, getting more distorted the more it's passed on. This is the Source. This is what you're fighting over. A device to rejuvenate a planet's ecosystem. It's nothing mystical. It's from a laboratory, not some creator. It's a bubble of gases. A cocktail of stuff for accelerated evolution. Methane, hydrogen, ammonia, amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids. It's used to make barren planets habitable . . . Look around you. It's not for killing, it's bringing life. If you allow it, it can lift you out of these dark tunnels and into the bright, bright sunlight. No more fighting, no more killing.'

Jenny looked at her father with such pride, and saw that her stepmother had the same expression. She understood now what a soldier of peace was, because it took more courage to put down a weapon than it did to pick it up. And she realised that it took infinitely more courage to never pick up the weapon in the first place.

Rose saw Jenny hesitantly hold out her hand for her to hold, and she looked at her hand, before looking her in the eyes and seeing the seeds of understanding. Rose brushed Jenny's hand aside and pulled her into a hug, kissing her head and rubbing her back.

This was what the Doctor did, she realised. He challenged people's views of their world and made them confront their beliefs. He changed people. He'd changed her, and he'd changed his daughter . . . their daughter.

The Doctor took the globe off it's support pedestal and held it at shoulder height. 'I'm the Doctor, and I declare this war is over.' He threw the globe onto the floor, where it smashed and released gas and energy. Everyone watched as the beautiful tendrils of gaseous energy pirouetted into the air. Soldiers lowered their weapons and put them on the floor, all except General Cobb.

Jenny released the hug with Rose and went over to the Doctor. 'What's happening?'

'The gases will escape and trigger the terraforming process,' the Doctor told her.

'What does that mean?'

'It means a new world.'

General Cobb didn't want a new world. He was a soldier, he was important, he was in charge. He raised his pistol and pointed it at the Doctor's chest.

Jenny saw the action and reacted as a soldier for the last time, putting herself in the line of fire. 'No!'

The bullet hit her in the chest, and she slumped back against the Doctor, who gently lowered her to the ground.

'Jenny? Jenny. Talk to me, Jenny.'

Rose rushed forward and knelt beside them, holding her hand and stroking her temple. 'Jenny? C'mon Sweetheart, you're gonna be okay. You've got two doctors here to look after you.'

'Is she going to be all right?' Donna asked Martha, who was doing an initial trauma assessment. Martha shook her head. The bullet had hit vital blood vessels in her chest. She was bleeding to death.

'A new world,' Jenny breathed as she looked through her tears at the ball of gaseous energy. 'It's beautiful.'

'Jenny, be strong now. You need to hold on, do you hear me? We've got things to do, you, me . . . and your mum, hey? Hey? We can go anywhere. Everywhere. You choose.'

'That sounds good.'

'You're my daughter . . . our daughter, and we've only just got started. You're going to be great. You're going to be more than great. You're going to be amazing. You hear me? Jenny?'

'Jenny?' Rose cried. She couldn't die now. She'd only just accepted her as her daughter. She wanted to say sorry and to make it up to her.

Jenny breathed out and closed her eyes. The Doctor and Rose waited for her to breath in again, but she never did. Rose gasped and sobbed, hugging her husband and sharing their grief.

The Doctor looked up at Martha hopefully. 'Two hearts. Two hearts. She's like me. If we wait. If we just wait.'

'There's no sign, Doctor. There is no regeneration. She's like you, but maybe not enough.'

'No. Too much. That's the truth of it. She was too much like me.'

The Doctor lay Jenny down and kissed her forehead, Rose knelt down and gently stroked her face. The Doctor stood and went over to Cobb, who was being held by his arms and made to kneel. The Doctor picked up the pistol and pointed it at Cobb's head.

'Doctor?' Rose called quietly. It was one of those moments where she needed to remind him of who he was and what he stood for. He pointed the gun at Cobb for a very long time before putting the safety back on.

'I never would. Have you got that? I never would. When you start this new world, this world of Human and Hath, remember that. Make the foundation of this society a man who never would.'


	9. The Unicorn and the Wasp

**Chapter 9**

 **The Unicorn and the Wasp**

The Doctor was standing by the console, watching the Time Rotor grind up and down. He had his arm around Rose's shoulders, and she had hers around his waist in their usual comfortable hug.

'Jenny was the reason for the Tardis bringing us here. It just got here too soon, which then created Jenny in the first place. Paradox. An endless paradox.' He looked at Martha and Donna. 'Time to go home?'

'Yeah. Home,' they said.

Rose moved around to the spatial control panel, and started inputting the coordinates for London, on the planet Earth. The Doctor adjusted the temporal settings for a time soon after they had left the ATMOS factory.

Rose landed the TARDIS near the Tower of London, where Martha said she could requisition a driver to take them home.

'Are you sure about this?' Rose asked them as they had a farewell hug.

Martha nodded. 'Yeah, positive. I can't do this any more.'

'I've got a new job and the chance of a proper career,' Donna told her. 'And I'm grateful to you both for that.'

'Take care of yourself,' Martha said with a concerned look at Rose, before leaning in close and whispering, 'and good luck with everything.'

'And you,' Rose replied.

'We're making a habit of this,' the Doctor said to Martha.

'Yeah. And you'd think it'd get easier.' She grabbed him in a hug. 'Bye, Doctor.'

'Goodbye. Doctor Jones.' She turned, and went to find a UNIT driver to take them home.

'Oi, Spaceman!' Donna called with grin. 'Come here.' She grabbed him and gave him a rib cracking hug. 'Now, don't you go all sulky and moody about Jenny. You've got a patient wife there, an' God knows she needs the patience of a saint livin' with you.'

'Oi,' he started to protest, but she put her hand up to silence him.

'So talk about it, 'cos you'll both be grievin' over her.' She leaned in close and spoke quietly. 'An' tell her about your family. She's your wife, she needs to know.'

The Doctor smiled. 'I thought your new job was with the United Nations, not marriage guidance.'

Donna laughed. 'Goodbye Doctor, and thanks for everythin'.' She kissed him on the cheek and went after Martha to get that ride home.

'So, just us again,' Rose said, slipping her hand in his. 'Are you okay?'

'Yeah, I'm always okay,' he said, and then thought about what Donna had said. 'Wellll, nearly always . . . Well, some of the time.'

Rose kissed him on the lips and tried again. 'Are-you-okay?'

He smiled at her. 'With you by my side . . . yeah, I'm okay.'

She led him back into the TARDIS. 'Good, 'cos I'm not at the moment,' she told him with tears in her eyes. 'I had a stepdaughter thrust upon me, and when I'd finally got my head around it and accepted her, I saw her murdered in front of me.'

'Hey, hey,' he said, hugging her and rubbing her back. 'You'll be okay. We both will.'

'I know, and I need you right now Love. I need you to take me to bed and make love to me, 'cos I'm feelin' . . . Oh I don't know what I'm feelin'. Sad, guilty, insecure, fragile.'

'Then let me try and make you feel better.' He scooped her up and carried her past the console. 'D'you want to get that?' he said, nodding at the console. She flipped the materialise / dematerialise lever as he carried her past, and took her through to the bedroom for a night of gentle and thoughtful lovemaking.

In the morning, Rose awoke slowly and dreamily, remembering the night before and how the Doctor had been so thoughtful and gentle with her. Surprisingly, he'd talked about his life on Gallifrey, and eventually he'd started to talk about his family. There had been tears, but also smiles and laughter, oh and some incredible sex.

She draped her arm across the Doctor, except she didn't, because he wasn't there. 'Doctor?'

'Coming,' he called from the hallway outside, and she saw his bum backing into the room. He turned around, to reveal a tray with breakfast on it.

'Ahh, breakfast in bed, that's lovely. Thank you.'

'My pleasure Love.' He climbed in bed beside her, stole a quick kiss, and then poured two cups of tea. He spread some marmalade on a slice of toast, and proceeded to feed it to her.

She seductively bit into the toast, and ran her tongue around her lips. 'Mmmm, lovely.'

'So, where do you want to go today?' he asked her with a smile. 'We could see the Mistfall on Alzarius.'

'Yeah, we could,' she said, uncertainly.

'What about Karas don Kazra don Slava then, a planet with intelligent sand and singing fish? Or, I know, we could go visit my old mate Leonardo da Vinci . . . you could even sit for him. You never know, you could end up in the Louvre, the Rose Lungbarrowmas with an enigmatic smile.'

'I'll give you an enigmatic smile in a minute,' she said with a laugh, and then a kiss on the cheek. 'What about somewhere posh? Somewhere where they have cocktails, and people straighten their little pinkie when they drink tea,' she said in the closest she could get to a posh accent.

'Hah! You're on. I'll take you somewhere where they have posh coming out of their ears,' he said with a laugh. 'When we've had breakfast, we can have a shower and then we can find somewhere posh.

They shared an enjoyable shower together, before getting dressed. The Doctor in his brown pinstriped suit, and Rose in black trousers, purple blouse and black jacket, ready for cocktails at a high class venue.

They went to the console room, and the Doctor started operating the controls with a flourish. They felt the TARDIS land, and he closed down the console, before leading Rose down the ramp to the doors, and stepping outside into a walled garden of a manor house.

'Oh, smell that air, grass and lemonade . . . and a little bit of mint. A hint of mint; must be the nineteen twenties.'

'You can tell what year it is just by smelling?' she asked him with a hint of scorn in her voice.

'Oh, yeah,' he said as a matter of fact.

'Or maybe that big vintage car coming up the drive gave it away,' she said, pointing at an open topped tourer approaching the house. They watched, fascinated, as the butler and a footman came out of the house.

'The Professor's baggage, Richard, step lively,' the butler said.

The older driver, who they presumed was the professor, got out of the car and removed his flat cap and goggles.

'Good afternoon, Professor Peach,' the butler said in greeting.

'Hello, Greeves old man.'

Just then, a young man dressed in black and wearing a Panama hat, cycled up the driveway, ringing his bell. When he got closer, they could see he was wearing a 'dog collar', which told them he was a man of the cloth.

'Ah, Reverend,' Peach said.

'Professor Peach, Beautiful day,' the reverend said, climbing off his bicycle. 'The Lord's in his heaven, all's right with the world.'

'Blimey,' Rose said quietly. 'It's like bein' in an episode of Black Beauty or somethin'.'

Greeves greeted the vicar. 'Reverend Golightly, Lady Eddison requests you make yourselves comfortable in your rooms. Cocktails will be served on the lawn from half past four.' He nodded to the footman to take the reverend's bike.

'You go on up,' Peach said to Golightly. 'I need to check something in the library.'

'Oh?' Golightly raised an eyebrow.

'Alone,' Peach said in answer.

Golightly smiled at him. 'It's supposed to be a party, all this work will be the death of you.'

The Doctor and Rose were peeking around the corner of the house, listening to the conversation.

'Never mind the Leisure Hive of Argolis, or Limnos 4, a party in the nineteen twenties, that's more like it,' Rose said with enthusiasm.

'The trouble is, we haven't been invited,' he told her, and then reached into his coat pocket. 'Oh, I forgot . . . yes, we have,' he smiled, waggling his wallet of psychic paper in front of her.

Rose grinned at him, and they headed back to the TARDIS to get changed. Well, Rose went to get changed; the Doctor would continue to wear his usual brown, pinstripe suit. He waited patiently outside the TARDIS for Rose to appear in a costume suitable for the period, until his patients started to run out.

He knocked on the door. 'We'll be late for cocktails,' he shouted at the door.

The door opened, and Rose appeared in a sparkly, sapphire blue, knee length dress suitable for nineteen twenties England. She accessorised with a long length of beads around her neck, and a narrow blue headband around her head. 'I was tryin' to remember how Tallulah dressed. What do you think? Flapper or slapper?' she asked, unsure if she had got it right.

He looked her up and down and then smiled warmly. 'Flapper . . . you look stunning.'

On the lawn, the young footman started a record playing while the Indian housekeeper gave orders. 'Look sharp. We have guests.'

'Good afternoon,' the Doctor said to the assembled guests.

'Drinks, sir? Ma'am?' the young footman asked.

'Lemonade, please,' Rose said.

'And a lime and soda, thank you.'

Greeves, the butler introduced the hostess. 'May I announce Lady Clemency Eddison.'

The Doctor held out his hand. 'Lady Eddison.'

'Forgive me, but who exactly might you be, and what are you doing here?' Lady Eddison asked him.

'I'm the Doctor. And this is my wife, Rose.'

Rose put on a posh accent and dropped a curtsey at Lady Eddison. 'Good afternoon, my lady. Topping day, what? Spiffing. Top hole.'

'No, no, no, no, no. No, don't do that. Don't.'

'You never let me do the accents, do ya,' Rose whispered back.

The Doctor showed the psychic paper to Lady Eddison. 'We were thrilled to receive your invitation, my lady. We met at the Ambassador's reception.'

'Doctor, how could I forget you? But one must be sure with the Unicorn on the loose.'

'A unicorn? Brilliant. Where?' he asked.

'The Unicorn. The jewel thief? Nobody knows who he is. He's just struck again. Snatched Lady Babbington's pearls right from under her nose.'

'Funny place to wear pearls,' said Rose.

'May I announce Colonel Hugh Curbishley, the Honourable Roger Curbishley,' Greeves, the butler said.

Roger pushed his father's wheelchair towards them, and Lady Eddison introduced them. 'My husband, and my son.'

'Forgive me for not rising,' the Colonel said. 'Never been the same ever since that flu epidemic back in eighteen . . .'

'My word, you are a super lady,' Roger interrupted.

'Oh, I like the cut of your jib. Chin, chin,' Rose said with her tongue between the teeth smile.

'Hello. I'm the Doctor.'

'How do you do?' Roger said, shaking his hand.

'Very well.'

'Your usual, sir?' the footman asked Roger.

'Ah. Thank you, Davenport. Just how I like it.'

'How come she's an Eddison, but her husband and son are Curbishleys?' Rose asked quietly.

'The Eddison title descends through her. One day Roger will be a lord.'

'Robina Redmond,' Greeves announced.

A fashionable young woman, wearing a red dress, similar in style to Rose's walked onto the lawn.

'She's the absolute hit of the social scene,' Lady Eddison told them. 'A must . . . Miss Redmond.'

'Spiffing to meet you at last, my lady. What super fun.'

'Reverend Arnold Golightly,' Greeves continued.

Lady Eddison greeted the vicar. 'Ah, Reverend. How are you? I heard about the church last Thursday night. Those ruffians breaking in.'

'You apprehended them, I hear,' the Colonel said with satisfaction.

'As the Christian Fathers taught me, we must forgive them their trespasses. Quite literally.'

'Some of these young boys deserve a decent thrashing,' Roger said.

'Couldn't agree more, sir,' Davenport told him.

'There's a couple of blokes Captain Jack would like to say hello to,' Rose whispered to the Doctor.

'Now, my lady,' Roger said to his mother. 'What about this special guest you promised us?'

'Here she is. A lady who needs no introduction.'

A thirty-something woman was embarrassed by the applause she received. 'No, no, please, don't. Thank you, Lady Eddison. Honestly, there's no need . . . Agatha Christie.'

'What about her?' Rose asked.

'That's me.'

'No. You're kiddin'!'

'Agatha Christie,' the Doctor said enthusiastically. 'I was just talking about you the other day. I said, I bet she's brilliant. I'm the Doctor. This is Rose. Oh, I love your stuff. What a mind. You fool me every time. Well, almost every time. Well, once or twice. Well, once. But it was a good once.'

'You make a rather unusual couple,' Agatha observed.

'Yes. Thrown together in adversity,' he told her.

'Been together ever since,' Rose added.

'Well, obviously as you are wearing a wedding ring.'

'Oh. Oh, you don't miss a trick,' the Doctor said in admiration.

'Although I'd say that the thrill is in the chase, never in the capture.'

'Mrs Christie, I'm so glad you could come. I'm one of your greatest followers. I've read all six of your books. Er, is, er, Mister Christie not joining us?' Lady Eddison enquired.

'Is he needed? Can't a woman make her own way in the world?'

'Don't give my wife ideas,' the Colonel said with a laugh.

'Now Mrs Christie, I have a question. Why a Belgian detective?' Roger asked.

The Doctor borrowed the Colonel's newspaper. 'Excuse me, Colonel.'

'Belgians make such lovely buns,' Agatha quipped.

Roger looked around the lawn. 'I say, where on Earth's Professor Peach? He'd love to meet Mrs Christie.'

'Said he was going to the library,' Golightly said.

Lady Eddison turned to her houskeeper. 'Miss Chandrakala, would you go and collect the Professor?'

'At once, M'lady.'

The Doctor showed Rose the newspaper. 'The date on this newspaper.'

'What about it?'

'It's the day Agatha Christie disappeared.'

* * *

The garden party had turned into a plot from one of Agatha's novels, with them finding Professor Peach bludgeoned in the library, and then the housekeeper, Miss Chandrakala having a stone gargoyle fall on her in mysterious circumstances.

The Doctor had told the guests that he was a detective, and that Rose was his plucky assistant. He had recruited Agatha's help to interview the guests, whilst Rose had found a giant wasp in a room upstairs. Agatha was feeling a little overwhelmed by the whole affair, and the expectations of the guests for her to solve the murders.

Rose found Agatha sitting in a little wrought iron gazebo just outside the house. 'Do you know what I think? Those books of yours, one day they could turn them into films. They could be talkin' pictures.'

'Talking pictures? Pictures that talk? What do you mean?'

'Oh, blimey, I've done it again,' Rose whispered to herself.

'I appreciate you trying to be kind, but you're right. These murders are like my own creations. It's as though someone's mocking me, and I've had enough scorn for one lifetime.'

'Yeah. Thing is, I had this bloke once, Mickey. And I loved him . . . and he loved me. Turns out though that all he wanted was to watch football and mend motors. But I was lucky. I found the Doctor. It's changed my life. There's always someone else.'

'I see. Is my marriage the stuff of gossip now?'

'No, I just . . . Sorry.'

'No matter. The stories are true. I found my husband with another woman. A younger, prettier woman. Isn't it always the way?'

'Well, mine was with a plastic mannequin, but, same difference.'

'You and the Doctor talk such wonderful nonsense.'

'Agatha, people love your books. They really do. They're gonna be readin' them for years to come.'

'Only. Try as I might, it's hardly great literature. Now that's beyond me. I'm afraid my books will be forgotten, like ephemera. Hello, what's that? Those flower beds were perfectly neat earlier. now some of the stalks are bent over.' Agatha went over to the flower bed and picked up a small leather case.

'There ya go,' Rose said. 'Who'd ever notice that? You're brilliant.'

They took the case to the Doctor in the Drawing Room, where he opened it. It was full of lock-picking tools. 'Ooh. Someone came here tooled up. The sort of stuff a thief would use.'

'The Unicorn. He's here!' Agatha exclaimed.

'The Unicorn and the wasp,' the Doctor said.

Greeves entered with a tray of drinks. 'Your drinks, ladies. Doctor.'

'Very good, Greeves,' the Doctor said, slapping him on the back.

'How about the science stuff. What did you find?' Rose asked him as they sat down with their drinks.

He took a glass phial out of his pocket. 'Vespiform sting. Vespiforms have got hives in the Silfrax galaxy.'

Agatha put her hands up. 'Again, you talk like Edward Lear.'

The Doctor continued. 'But for some reason, this one's behaving like a character in one of your books.'

'Come on, Agatha,' Rose encouraged. 'What would Miss Marple do? She'd have overheard somethin' vital by now, because the murderer thinks she's just a harmless old lady.'

'Clever idea. Miss Marple? Who writes those?'

'Er, copyright Rose Smith. Add it to the list.'

'Rose,' the Doctor said in a worried tone of voice.

'Okay, we could split the copyright.'

'No. Something's inhibiting my enzymes.' He doubled up in pain. 'Argh! I've been poisoned.'

'What do we do?' Rose asked him. 'What do we do?'

Agatha sniffed his drink. 'Bitter almonds. It's cyanide. Sparkling Cyanide.'

The Doctor ran out of the Drawing Room and staggered down the hallway into the kitchen and grabbed Davenport, the footman. 'Ginger beer!'

The young man looked at him with a shocked expression. 'I beg your pardon?'

'I need ginger beer.'

'The gentleman's gone mad,' Mrs. Hart, the cook said.

The Doctor found a stone bottle of ginger beer and drank it, pouring the remainder over his head.

'I'm an expert in poisons,' Agatha told him. 'Doctor, there's no cure. It's fatal.'

The Doctor spat out the surplus ginger beer. 'Not for me. I can stimulate the inhibited enzymes into reversal. Protein. I need protein.'

Rose looked around the kitchen. 'Walnuts?'

The Doctor took the jar off her. 'Brilliant.'

He filled his mouth with walnuts, and then tried to ask for something else by shaking his hand.

'I can't understand you,' Rose said, and then remembered playing charades at Christmas. 'How many words? One. One word. Shake. Milk shake. Milk? Milk? No, not milk? Shake, shake, shake. Cocktail shaker. What do you want, a Harvey Wallbanger?'

The Doctor eventually swallowed the nuts. 'Harvey Wallbanger?'

'Well, I don't know.'

'How is Harvey Wallbanger one word?'

'What do you need, Doctor?' Agatha asked calmly.

'Salt. I was miming salt. It's salt. I need something salty.'

They started searching the worktops. 'What about this?' Rose asked, handing him a brown package.

'What is it?'

'Salt.'

'No, too salty.'

'Oh, that's too salty,' Rose said sarcastically.

'What about this?' Agatha asked as she handed him a jar.

'What's that?' Rose asked her.

'Anchovies'.

The Doctor took the jar off her and downed the contents before holding his hands up and spreading his fingers.

'What is it? What else?' Rose asked him. 'It's a song? Mammy? I don't know. Camptown Races?'

The Doctor cleared his throat again. 'Camptown Races?'

'Well, all right then, Towerin' Inferno.'

'It's a shock. Look, shock. I need a shock,' he told her.

Rose knew exactly what to say to shock him. 'I'm pregnant!'

The Doctor's eyes and mouth opened wide, and smoke came from his mouth.

'Detox. Oh my. I must do that more often.' And then he realised what Rose had said. 'Pregnant? Did you say you were pregnant?'

'Er, yeah. That's what I wanted to tell ya. I missed a period, and Martha did a test at the ATMOS factory. I was gonna tell ya all romantic like, but then we got whisked away to Messaline, an' then there was that thing with your daughter . . .'

He frowned in thought. 'Pregnant?! But that's . . . that's . . .'

'Brilliant?' Rose ventured. 'Good? Awkward . . ? Terrible? I need some help here.'

'A shock!' he said. He was remembering a conversation he'd had with Donna about Jenny. "When I look at her now, I can see them. The hole they left, all the pain that filled it. I just don't know if I can face that every day."

"It won't stay like that. She'll help you," Donna had told him.

"But when they died, that part of me died with them. It'll never come back. Not now," he had explained.

And Donna had surprised him. "I tell you something, Doctor. Something I've never told you before. I think you're wrong."

And now, here he was, about to find out if she was right.

'Doctor, you are impossible. Who are you?' asked Agatha.

Rose's bottom lip started to quiver, and tears welled in her eyes as she saw his expression. 'You don't want it, do ya? Y'don't want to be a dad again.'

The Doctor pulled her into a reassuring hug. 'It might be a shock, but it's a bloody brilliant one.'

'Really?' she asked. 'You're not just sayin' that?'

'Of course I'm just saying it, and I'll keep on saying it. It's bloody brilliant!' He cupped her cheeks and kissed her lovingly on the lips.

* * *

It had been an evening of revelations. The Doctor had convinced Agatha that she was more than capable of revealing who the murderer was. What she did reveal was that Robina Redmond was in fact the Unicorn, the infamous jewel thief.

She also revealed that Colonel Curbishley was not actually wheelchair bound, and had only pretended to be so because he thought Lady Eddison would leave him if he wasn't.

'To find the truth, let's return to this.' Agatha said, holding up the Firestone. 'Far more than the Unicorn's object of desire. The Firestone has quite a history. Lady Eddison.'

'I've done nothing,' Lady Eddison declared.

Agatha continued. 'You brought it back from India, did you not? Before you met the Colonel. You came home with malaria, and confined yourself to this house for six months, in a room that has been kept locked ever since, which I rather think means . . .'

'Stop, please.'

'I'm so sorry. But you had fallen pregnant in India. Unmarried and ashamed, you hurried back to England with your confidante, a young maid later to become housekeeper. Miss Chandrakala.'

'Clemency, is this true?' The Colonel asked her.

'My poor baby. I had to give him away. The shame of it.'

'But you never said a word,' said The Colonel.

'I had no choice. Imagine the scandal. The family name. I'm British. I carry on.'

'And it was no ordinary pregnancy,' the Doctor told them.

'How can you know that?'

'Excuse me Agatha, this is my territory,' the Doctor said, standing up. 'But when you heard that buzzing sound in the dining room, you said, it can't be . . . Why did you say that?'

'You'd never believe it.'

'The Doctor has opened my mind to believe many things,' Agatha said.

'It was forty years ago, in the heat of Delhi, late one night. I was alone, and that's when I saw it. A dazzling light in the sky. The next day, he came to the house. Christopher, the most handsome man I'd ever seen. Our love blazed like a wildfire. I held nothing back. And in return he showed me the incredible truth about himself. He'd made himself human, to learn about us.'

Lady Eddison stopped to sip her brandy before continuing. 'I loved him so much, it didn't matter. But he was stolen from me. 1885, the year of the great monsoon. The river Jumna rose up and broke its banks. He was taken at the flood. But Christopher left me a parting gift. A jewel like no other. I wore it always. Part of me never forgot. I kept it close, always.'

'Just like a man,' Robina said cynically. 'Flashes his family jewels and you end up with a bun in the oven.'

Agatha took over the commentary. 'A poor little child. Forty years ago, Miss Chandrakala took that newborn babe to an orphanage. But Professor Peach worked it out. He found the birth certificate.'

'Oh, that's maiden. Maiden name,' Rose said.

'Precisely.'

'So she killed him?' Rose asked.

'I did not,' Lady Eddison protested.

'Miss Chandrakala feared that the Professor had unearthed your secret. She was coming to warn you,' Agatha explained.

'So she killed her,' Rose said, trying to get a handle on the plot.

'I did not.'

'Lady Eddison is innocent. Because at this point,' Agatha turned to the Doctor. 'Doctor?'

'Thank you. At this point, when we consider the lies and the secrets, and the key to these events, then we have to consider it was you my wife, Rose,' he said pointing at her.

'Wha'? Who did I kill?' she asked him.

'No, but you said it all along. The vital clue. This whole thing is being acted out like a murder mystery, which means it was you, Agatha Christie.'

'I beg your pardon, sir?' said Agatha, indignantly.

'So she killed 'em?' Rose asked him.

'No. But she wrote. She wrote those brilliant, clever books. And who's her greatest admirer? The moving finger points at you, Lady Eddison.'

'Don't. Leave me alone.'

'So she did kill them,' Rose said, having already accused her once.

'No. But just think. Last Thursday night, what were you doing?'

'I . . . was I was in the library. I was reading my favourite Agatha Christie, thinking about her plots, and how clever she must be. How is that relevant?'

'Just think. What else happened on Thursday night?' The Doctor stopped and stared at Reverend Golightly.

'I'm sorry?' Golightly said with a puzzled expression.

'You said on the lawn, this afternoon. Last Thursday night, those boys broke into your church.'

'That's correct. They did. I discovered the two of them. Thieves in the night. I was most perturbed, but I apprehended them.'

'Really? A man of God against two strong lads? A man in his forties? Or, should I say forty years old, exactly?'

'Oh, my God,' Lady Eddison gasped.

'Lady Eddison, your child, how old would he be now?' the Doctor asked her.

'Forty. He's forty.'

'Your child has come home.'

'Oh, this is poppycock,' the reverend declared.

'Oh?' the Doctor said. 'You said you were taught by the Christian Fathers, meaning you were raised in an orphanage.'

'My son. Can it be?' Lady Eddison asked.

'You found those thieves, Reverend, and you got angry. A proper, deep anger, for the first time in your life, and it broke the genetic lock. You changed. You realised your inheritance,' the Doctor explained.

'After all these years, you knew who you were. Oh, and then it all kicks off, because this isn't just a jewel. It's a Vespiform telepathic recorder. It's part of you, your brain, your very essence. And when you activated, so did the Firestone. It beamed your full identity directly into your mind. And, at the same time, it absorbed the works of Agatha Christie directly from Lady Eddison. It all became part of you. The mechanics of those novels formed a template in your brain. You've killed, in this pattern, because that's what you think the world is. It turns out; we are in the middle of a murder mystery. One of yours, Dame Agatha.'

'Dame?'

'Oh. Sorry, not yet.'

'So he killed 'em, yes? Definitely?' Rose asked him.

'Yes.'

The vicar smiled nervously. 'Well, this has certainly been a most entertaining evening. Really, you can't believe any of this surely, Lady Edizzon.'

'Lady who?' asked the Doctor.

'Lady Edizzzzon,' Golightly said with a twitch of his head.

'Little bit of buzzing there, Vicar,' the Doctor noted.

'Don't make me angry,' Golightly warned him as he stood up.

'Why? What happens then?' the Doctor asked.

Golightly's face had turned red in anger, turning to purple. 'Damn it, you humanzz, worshipping your tribal sky godzz. I am so much more. That night, the universe exploded in my mind. I wanted to take what wazz mine. And you, Agatha Christie, with your railway station bookstall romancezz, what'z to stop me killing you?'

Lady Eddison stood, holding out her hand. 'Oh, my dear God. My child.'

'What'zz to stop me killing you all?' Golightly asked them as he transformed into the giant wasp.

'Forgive me,' Lady Eddison pleaded.

'No, no, Clemency, come back. Keep away. Keep away, my darling,' The Colonel called to her.

Agatha stood her ground and held up the Firestone. 'No. No more murder. If my imagination made you kill, then my imagination will find a way to stop you, foul creature.' She ran out of the room with the Firestone.

The Doctor and Rose followed her, and as they ran down the hallway, Rose had a realisation. 'Wait, now it's chasin' us.'

The Doctor and Rose ran out of the main doors of the house and shut them tight. Agatha drove her car and hooted the horn. The Vespiform burst out through the doors.

'Over here! Agatha called. 'Come and get me, Reverend.'

'Agatha, what are you doing?' the Doctor shouted.

'If I started this, Doctor, then I must stop it.' She drove off, and the Vespiform followed.

'Come on,' the Doctor said as they climbed into another car and gave chase.

'It's all my fault, it's all my fault, it's all my fault,' Agatha intoned as she drove down the dark lane.

'You said this is the night Agatha Christie loses her memory,' Rose remembered.

'Time is in flux, Rose. For all we know, this is the night Agatha Christie loses her life and history gets changed.'

'But where's she goin'?'

They pass a signpost for Silent Pool. 'The lake. She's heading for the lake. What's she doing?'

At the lakeside, Agatha climbed out of the car and held up the Firestone. 'Here I am, the honey in the trap. Come to me, Vespiform.'

'She's controllin' it,' Rose realised.

'Its mind is based on her thought processes. They're linked.'

'Quite so, Doctor. If I die, then this creature might die with me.'

'Don't hurt her. You're not meant to be like this. You've got the wrong template in your mind,' he told the Vespiform.

'It's not listenin' to you,' said Rose as she took the Firestone from Agatha and threw it into the lake. The wasp followed it. 'How do you kill a wasp? Drown it, just like his father.'

'Rose, that thing couldn't help itself,' the Doctor told her.

'Neither could I,' said Rose with regret.

Agatha looked at the purple light coming from the bubbling lake. 'Death comes as the end, and justice is served.'

'Murder at the Vicar's rage,' the Doctor said. 'Needs a bit of work.'

'Just one mystery left, Doctor . . . who exactly are YOU?' Agatha asked him, turning from the purple glow of the Silent Pool. Before the Doctor could fob her off with a glib answer, she doubled over in pain and collapsed.

The Doctor caught her and eased her to the ground. 'Oh, it's the Firestone, its part of the Vespiform's mind. It's dying and it's connected to Agatha.'

Agatha started to glow purple, and the Doctor wasn't sure if she would survive; time was in flux, and history could be rewritten. But then, the glow around Agatha and the glow in the lake faded, and she seemed to recover, passing out with a sigh.

'He let her go,' he observed quietly. 'Right at the end, the Vespiform chose to save someone's life.'

'Is she all right, though?' Rose asked in concern.

'Of course, the amnesia. Wiped her mind of everything that happened. The wasp, the murders . . .'

'And us,' Rose realised. 'She'll forget about us.'

'Yeah, but we've solved another riddle . . . The mystery of Agatha Christie. And tomorrow morning . . . her car gets found by the side of a lake . . . A few days later, she turns up in a hotel at Harrogate with no idea of what just happened.' Time wasn't in flux, he realised, it was waiting for him to complete the circle, to avoid the paradox.

'Come on, help me get her into the professor's car, we have to take her to the TARDIS, and then on to Harrogate.'

They carefully lay her on the rear seat, and set off back to Eddison Manor. When they drove up to the manor, they could see that everyone in the house was trying to clear up after the evenings excitement of having a giant wasp trash the place. They were able to carry Agatha to the TARDIS and set off for the Harrogate Hotel.

They landed in a grove of trees that lined the driveway leading up to the hotel. Rose still found it weird that only minutes ago it was the middle of the night, and now it was the following morning. Talk about jet lag. Agatha had regained consciousness, but was still groggy and dazed by the link to the Firestone. Rose took her hand and gently led her out of the TARDIS and guided her towards the hotel.

She looked back at them, thinking that somehow she should know them, but couldn't quite remember.

'No one'll ever know,' the Doctor told her as they watched her amble towards the hotel.

'Lady Eddison, the Colonel, and all the staff . . . What about 'em?' Rose asked.

'Shameful story, they'd never talk of it . . . Too British . . . while the Unicorn does a bunk back to London town, she can never even say she was there.'

'What happens to Agatha?'

'Oh, great life . . . Met another man; married again . . . saw the world. Wrote and wrote and wrote.'

'She never thought her books were any good though, and she must have spent all those years wonderin'.' They turned around and went back into the TARDIS.

'The thing is,' he reflected as he threw his coat over the coral strut. 'I don't think she ever quite forgot. Great mind like that, some of the details kept bleeding through. All the stuff her imagination could use. Like, Miss Marple.'

'I should have made her sign a contract.'

'And . . . where is it, where is it, hold on.' He knelt down and lifted one of the floor gratings. 'Here we go.'

He lifted out an old wooden chest. 'C. That is C for Cybermen.' He took out a disk and dropped it on the upturned lid. 'C for Carrionites,' he said taking out the glowing green crystal ball that contained the alien witches and shaking it, followed by a sculpture of Caesar's head.

'And Christie, Agatha. Look at that,' he said holding up a paperback edition of 'Death in the Clouds' with a wasp on the cover.

'She did remember.'

'Somewhere in the back of her mind, it all lingered . . . And that's not all. Look at the copyright page.'

Rose took the book and opened it. 'Facsimile edition, published in the year . . . five billion!'

'People never stop reading them. She is the best selling novelist of all time.'

Rose sighed. 'But she never knew.'

'Well, no one knows how they're going to be remembered. All we can do is hope for the best. Maybe that's what kept her writing . . . Same thing keeps me travelling. Onwards?' he asked with a smile.

'Onwards,' she replied.

He put the TARDIS into the Vortex, and selected a music track on the media player. The jazz classic, "The Charleston" by James P. Johnson started playing, and he took her hand in his.

'Before we go onwards to the Medi-bay to scan your womb,' he said, giving her a kiss and gently rubbing her abdomen. 'And while you are still wearing that sexy outfit, I think we should have a dance from the period.'

'Ooh, the Charleston that Tallulah taught us,' she said with a broad smile. She twirled her long beads in front of her and started kicking out her heels. 'C'mon then husband, let's cut a rug.'

'Oh, you speak the lingo,' he said with a grin, as they started dancing around the console. 'We're in the groove Jackson.'


	10. Silence in the Library

**Chapter 10**

 **Silence in the Library**

Rose lay on the high tech couch in the Medi-bay in her sapphire blue flapper dress, tapping the toes of her shoes together nervously. The Doctor was sitting on a stool next to her with his brainy specs on examining the results of the bioscan.

'Well?' she asked him.

He grinned at her. 'Well . . . you have a healthy Human-Gallifreyan hybrid foetus in your womb. My DNA, Artron energy, evrything . . .'

'Whatcha mean, "my DNA"? Of course it's your DNA! Whose else would it be?'

Ah. This was one of those delicate, human, domestic interactions that he was so bad at. 'No, no, no, no. I didn't mean it like that. Of course it's my DNA, and it's brilliant that it's my DNA.'

That had sounded better in his head, so he carried on digging himself into a hole. 'Not that it would ever be anyone else's. I mean I know you are faithful . . . No, what I meant to say is, mmmmmph.'

She silenced him with a loving kiss. She really did love his runaway gob.

She slid off the couch and wrapped her arms around his waist. 'Now, how would Agatha solve the mystery of the baby in the womb?' she asked with a mischievous smile. 'Oh, I know. We'll stage a re-enactment of the deed.' She waggled her eyebrows at him and led him towards the bedroom by the hand.

In the early hours of TARDIS time, he had a feeling about his psychic paper, the feeling he usually got when there was a message for him. He had last felt it when the Face of Boe had called him to the hospital in New New York. He slipped out of bed and went through to the console room, where he rummaged through the pockets of his jacket that he'd left over the hand rail. He took the black wallet out of the pocket and flipped it open.

'The library come as soon as you can. X' was all it said.

'What?' he asked the empty room. The Library was a planet-sized library that was commissioned by the Lux family during the 50th century.

'Come as soon as you can?' he read out loud. That sounded fairly urgent, not desperate, but quite important. The thing that really piqued his interest though, was the 'X' at the end. Who, out of all the people that he knew would finish a psychic message with a kiss.

* * *

'Books,' the Doctor said as he shut the console down with his usual flourish. 'People never really stop loving books.' He grabbed his coat off the coral strut and put it on as he moved quickly down the ramp. Rose set off after him, her disappointment of not going to Brazil just yet, put to one side as she picked up on his excitement.

After they had made love the previous night, they had lain in bed, discussing where they fancied going next. They had decided on Brazil, and Rose had joked that she could be the girl from Ipanema.

When she stepped out of the TARDIS, that excitement waned. They were in a large, dimly lit area, with light seeping in through high windows, illuminating the dusty air as it made its way to the floor. The Doctor though was still enthusing about books, she suspected his enthusiasm was caused by having met Agatha Christie.

'Fifty first century,' he continued. 'By now you've got holovids, direct to brain downloads, fiction mist, but you need the smell . . . the smell of books, Rose. Deep breath.'

They moved out of the dim room onto a huge, marble staircase which led down to a balcony overlooking a futuristic city. The Doctor continued his narration as they walked down the steps.

'The Library. So big it doesn't need a name, just a great big THE.'

'It's like a city,' she said, looking at the view beyond the balcony.

'It's a world . . . literally, a world. The whole core of the planet is the index computer. Biggest hard drive ever, and up here, every book ever written. Whole continents of Jeffrey Archer, Bridget Jones, Monty Python's Big Red Book. Brand new editions, specially printed.'

He looked over a balcony onto roofs below. 'We're near the equator, so . . .' He licked a finger, and held it up to test the airflow. 'This must be . . . BIOGRAPHIES,' he shouted making Rose jump, and his voice echo around the halls. 'I love biographies.'

'Yeah, very you. Always a death at the end,' she said sarcastically.

'You need a good death. Without death, there'd only be comedies. Dying gives us size.'

Rose picked up a book from a stand on the balcony.

'Way-a,' he said, snatching the book off her. 'Spoilers.'

'What?'

'These books are from your future. You don't want to read ahead . . . spoil all the surprises. Like peeking at the end.'

'Isn't travellin' with you one big spoiler?' she pointed out.

'I try to keep you away from major plot developments. Which, to be honest . . . I seem to be very bad at,' he said distractedly as he looked around. 'Because you know what? This is the biggest library in the universe . . . So where is everyone?'

They stopped and listened, all that could be heard was a gentle breeze. 'It's silent,' he said, moving over to an information terminal and using his sonic screwdriver on it.

'The Library?' she asked, walking over to see what he was doing.

'The planet . . . The whole planet.'

'Maybe it's a Sunday,' she suggested.

'No, I never land on Sundays . . . Sundays are boring.'

'Well, maybe everyone's really, really quiet,' she whispered, after all, it was a library.

'Yeah, maybe. But they'd still show up on the system.' He continued to search the terminal display.

Rose's initial enthusiasm had gone now. She wanted to be on Ipanema beach, soaking up the sun. 'Doctor, why are we here? Really, why?'

When she had woken up this morning and gone to the kitchen / dining room for breakfast, he had told her that he was taking a quick detour before going to Brazil, and as usual, he was being very cagey about it.

'Oh, you know, just passing,' he said distractedly, still studying the screen.

'No, seriously,' she said, trying to pin him down for an explanation. 'It was all let's hit the beach, then suddenly we're in a library. Why?'

'Now that's interesting,' he said, ignoring her question

'What?'

'Scanning for life forms. If I do a scan looking for your basic humanoids, you know, your book readers, few limbs and a face, apart from us, I get nothing. Zippo, nada. See . . .? Nobody home,' he said, showing her the display that showed a filtered humanoid life form count of two.

'But if I widen the parameters to any kind of life . . .'

The screen counted up and registered an 'Error 1,000,000,000,000 life form number capped at maximum record'.

'A million, million, gives up after that . . . A million, million.'

They looked out again over the cityscape. 'But there's nothin' here. There's no one,' Rose said.

'And not a sound. A million. million life forms . . . and silence in the Library.'

'But there's no one here, there's just books. I mean, it's not the books, is it? I mean, it can't be the books, can it? I mean, books can't be alive,' she tried to reason, but wasn't convinced.

They both reached cautiously, slowly for a book, afraid that it might bite or something, when a voice made them jump.

'Welcome.'

Rose pointed up the steps. 'That came from here.'

The Doctor let out his breath. 'Yeah.'

They went up the steps and returned to the dim, dusty room. To their left was a circular desk, which Rose presumed was where you took your books to have them stamped (or whatever the fifty first century equivalent was). A vaguely humanoid sculpture next to the desk made a ticking sound as it turned its head and spoke with a female voice from a small face on its surface.

'I am Courtesy Node seven one zero slash aqua. Please enjoy the Library and respect the personal access codes of all your fellow readers, regardless of species or hygiene taboo.'

'That face, it looks real.'

'Yeah . . . don't worry about it.'

'A statue with a real face, though?' she asked uncertainly. 'It's a hologram or somethin', isn't it?' she ventured.

'No . . . but really, its fine.'

The Node spoke again. 'Additional. There follows a brief message from the Head Librarian for your urgent attention. It has been edited for tone and content by a Felman Lux Automated Decency Filter . . . Message follows. Run. For God's sake, run. No where is safe. The Library has sealed itself, we can't. Oh, they're here. Argh. Slarg. Snick. Message ends. Please switch off your mobile comm. units for the comfort of other readers,' the unemotional voice said.

'So that's why we're here,' he said, confirming Rose's suspicions that it wasn't his love of Agatha Christie novels that had brought them here.

'Any Other messages, same date stamp?' he asked the Node urgently.

'One additional message. This message carries a Felman Lux coherency warning of five zero eleven . . .' it started to say in its unhurried fashion.

'Yeah, yeah, fine, fine, fine. Just play it,' he shouted impatiently.

'Message follows. Count the shadows. For God's sake, remember, if you want to live, count the shadows. Message ends.'

They looked around the large, empty hall.

'Rose?' he said quietly, not wanting to disturb anything that might be lurking nearby.

'Yeah?' she said nervously.

'Stay out of the shadows.'

'Why, what's in the shadows?' she asked, but he didn't answer. Instead he walked back towards the TARDIS, and she thought for a moment, just the slightest slither of time, that they were going to leave whatever was in the shadows to its own devices, and make a quick getaway. But no, he walked past, and through a door opposite the grand staircase, into a long room filled with shelf upon shelf of books as far as the eye could see, and four floors high.

'So . . . we weren't just in the neighbourhood,' she said, looking up at the impressive collection.

'Yeah, I kind of . . . sort of lied a bit. I got a message on the psychic paper.' He held it up in front of her, and the message appeared, as if being written by an invisible pen.

'The library come as soon as you can. X'

'What do you think? Cry for help?' he asked her.

She took the wallet off him and turned it to face him. 'Cry for help with a kiss?' she said teasingly.

'Oh, we've all done that.'

'Who's it from?' she asked. Whoever it was, they knew him well. 'Come as soon as you can', not desperate, but intriguing enough to draw him in like a moth to a flame. And the kiss; that was a nice touch.

'No idea,' he said honestly.

Rose wanted to see if she was on the right track. 'So why did we come here? Why did you . . .'

The Doctor was looking down the rows of book shelves. 'Rose,' he interrupted.

She saw the look of concern on his face, and looked in the same direction. Rows of lights were going out, and the darkness was getting closer, bringing with it the shadows.

Now, she was getting scared. 'What's happenin'?'

'RUN!' he shouted, pulling her into a run, away from the approaching darkness.

They came to a door between the book shelves, and he tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge.

'Come on,' he pleaded at the door.

'What, is it locked?'

'Jammed. The wood's warped.'

'Well, sonic it . . . Use the sonic,' she said, making the action of using the sonic screwdriver with her thumb.

'I can't, it's wood,' he said in frustration.

'What, it doesn't do wood?' A futuristic, multi purpose tool, and it doesn't do wood? He'd be better off with a Swiss Army Knife, she thought.

No, wait, he'd had an idea. 'Hang on, hang on. I can vibrate the molecules, fry the bindings. I can shatterline the interface,' he babbled.

'Oh, get out of the way,' she said angrily. She showed him how they vibrated molecules on the Powell Estate, and gave the door a powerful kick, causing the double doors to fly open. They rushed inside, and he found a book to put through the handles, effectively barring the door.

They turned around to look at the room, and saw a football sized sphere floating in the middle of the room. 'Oh. Hello. Sorry to burst on you like this. Okay if we stop here for a bit?' the Doctor asked. The sphere promptly fell to the floor.

'What is it?'

'Security camera,' he said, picking it up. 'Switched itself off.'

He took out his sonic screwdriver, and used it on the security camera. 'Nice door skills, Rose.'

'Yeah, well, you know, livin' on the Estate. Sometimes you need to open a door quickly. What was that? What was after us? I mean, did we just run away from a power cut?'

'Possibly.'

'Are we safe here?' She asked as she looked up at the sky through the glass domed ceiling.

'Of course we're safe . . . There's a little shop,' he said as if that made everything all right. Rose looked where he had nodded and saw a sign on the wall saying The Shop, and Entrance This Way.

The Doctor got the camera open. 'Gotcha!'

As he examined the sphere, he saw words scroll across a display screen. "No, stop it. No. No."

'Ooh, I'm sorry. I really am,' he said apologetically, putting the sphere down. 'I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It's alive.'

'You said it was a security camera.'

'It is. It's an alive one.'

They stood and read the display. "Others are coming. The Library is breached. Others are coming."

That silent message sent a shiver down Rose's back. 'Others? What's it mean, Others?' The Doctor was silent. He had the same sense of foreboding.

Rose went over to a Node. 'Excuse me. What does it mean, Others?'

'That's barely more than a speak your weight machine, it can't help you.'

'So why's it got a face?'

['This flesh aspect was donated by Mark Chambers on the occasion of his death,'] the Node explained.

'It's a real face?'.

['It has been actualised individually for you from the many facial aspects saved to our extensive flesh banks. Please enjoy.']

'It chose me a dead face it thought I'd like? That statue's got a real dead person's face on it.'

'It's the fifty first century. That's basically like donating a park bench.'

'It's donatin' a face!' The idea freaked Rose out and she moved away from it.

'No, wait, no,' the Doctor said, grabbing her around the waist as she moved to the centre of the room.

'Ooh. Can't keep yer hands off me, can ya?' she said, kissing him on the lips.

'The shadow. Look.'

'What about it?'

'Count the shadows.'

'There, counted it. One shadow.'

'Yeah But what's casting it?' he asked, looking at the one, triangular shadow on the floor. 'Oh!' he exclaimed, making Rose jump. 'I'm thick! Look at me, I'm old and thick. Head's too full of stuff. I need a bigger head.'

Rose noticed the light in the adjoining corridor was going out. 'The power must be goin'.'

'This place runs on fission cells. They'll outburn the sun.'

'Then why is it dark?'

'It's not dark.'

Rose reached out and held his hand, intertwining her fingers with his. 'That shadow. It's gone.'

'We need to get back to the TARDIS.'

'Why?'

'Because that shadow hasn't gone. It's moved.'

['Reminder. The Library has been breached. Others are coming. Reminder. The Library has been breached. Others are coming . . .'] the Node said on a loop, when there was a flash of light and a loud bang. Six astronauts walked into the room, their helmet visors were dark and hid their faces.

One of the astronauts stepped forward, and her visor lit up to show an attractive woman with a charming smile. 'Hello, sweetie.'

* * *

'Almost every species in the universe has an irrational fear of the dark,' the Doctor told Rose quietly. 'But they're wrong, because it's not irrational . . . It's Vashta Nerada.'

'What's Vashta Nerada?' Rose asked.

'It's what's in the dark. It's what's always in the dark,' he said quietly.

'And who is SHE exactly,' Rose asked him, nodding over her shoulder at the expedition leader, Professor River Song.

He frowned in thought. 'I think it's another Queen Liz moment. She's met me in her past, and I apparently meet her in my future.'

'She seems very . . . friendly with ya.'

'Yeah, she does, doesn't she,' he said distractedly. 'Lights!' he called out, changing the subject and making her jump. 'That's what we need, lights. You got lights?'

'What for?' River asked.

The Doctor ignored her question. 'Form a circle. Safe area. Big as you can, lights pointing out.' He went down on his hands and knees and put an ear to the ground.

'Oi. Do as he says,' River commanded.

'You're not listening to this man?' the expedition sponsor, Strackman Lux asked in amazement.

River smiled at him. 'Apparently I am. Anita, unpack the lights. Other Dave, make sure the door's secure, then help Anita. Mister Lux, put your helmet back on, block the visor. Proper Dave, find an active terminal. I want you to access the Library database. See what you can find about what happened here a hundred years ago. Pretty boy, you're with me. Step into my office.'

'Professor Song, why am I the only one wearing my helmet?' Lux asked.

She gave him a cheeky smile. 'I don't fancy you.'

The Doctor stood up and went over to Proper Dave at the terminal, while Lux took off his helmet.

'Probably I can help you,' the Doctor told Proper Dave, putting on his brainy specs.

'Pretty boy. With me, I said,' River called from the other side of a desk.

The Doctor looked across the room, and saw Rose looking at him with a lopsided smile. 'Oh, I'm pretty boy?'

'Yeah,' Rose said in her "dribbled down his suit" tone of voice. 'Ooh, that came out a bit quick,' she said cheekily.

'Pretty?' he asked.

'I'd have said cute myself,' she said, as she held his lapels. 'But hey, "pretty" works for me.' She kissed him on the lips and sent him on his way.

The Doctor made his way over to River 'Don't let your shadows cross. Seriously, don't even let them touch. Any of them could be infected.'

'How can a shadow be infected?' Other Dave asked.

'Thanks,' River said to the Doctor as she took out a well worn blue book with eight squares on the cover.

'For what?'

'The usual,' she said. 'For coming when I call.'

'Oh, that was you?'

'You're doing a very good job, acting like you don't know me. I'm assuming there's a reason.'

'A fairly good one, actually.'

'Okay, shall we do diaries, then? Where are we this time? Er, going by your face, I'd say it's early days for you, yeah? So, er, crash of the Byzantium. Have we done that yet? Obviously ringing no bells. Right. Oh, picnic at Asgard. Have we done Asgard yet? Obviously not. Blimey, very early days, then. Whoo, life with a time traveller. Never knew it could be such hard work,' she said.

"Life with a time traveller?" Rose thought to herself. What was that supposed to mean? Who the hell was this woman? Rose was reminded of the time that she had first met Sarah Jane, and then that time with Reinette. She had been immature and jealous then, and now those same feelings were starting to rise again.

'Look at you. Oh, you're young,' River said.

'I'm really not, you know.'

'No, but you are. Your eyes.' She reached up and stroked his face. 'You're younger than I've ever seen you.' Rose watched from a distance, wondering who this woman was who seemed to know her husband so well, but also seemed to be a complete mystery to him.

'You've seen me before, then?'

'Doctor, please tell me you know who I am.'

'Who are you?' he asked her as a "burring" noise sounded in the room.

'Sorry, that was me,' Proper Dave called out. 'Trying to get through into the security protocols. I seem to have set something off. What is that? Is that an alarm?'

Rose frowned. 'Doctor? Doctor, that sounds like . . .'

'It is. It's a phone!' he said.

'I'm trying to call up the data core, but it's not responding. Just that noise,' Proper Dave said, looking at the screen.

Rose frowned. 'But it's a phone.'

'Let me try something,' the Doctor said, taking over the keyboard.

The screen said "Access Denied". 'Okay, doesn't like that. Let's try something else.' His fingers flew over the keys. 'Okay, here it comes . . . Hello?'

A small girl appeared on the screen. ['Hello. Are you in my television?']

'Wellll . . . no. I'm . . . I'm sort of in space. Er, I was trying to call up the data core of a triple grid security processor.'

['Would you like to speak to my Dad?']

The Doctor frowned. 'Dad or your Mum. That'd be lovely.'

['I know you,'] the girl said. ['You're in my library.']

'Your library?'

['The Library's never been on the television before. What have you done?']

'Er, well, I just rerouted the interface,' the Doctor told her, as she faded away and the screen said "Access Denied".

'What happened? Who was that?' River asked.

'I need another terminal,' the Doctor said. 'Keep working on those lights. We need those lights!'

'You heard him, people. Let there be light,' River commanded.

The Doctor went to the other terminal and started typing commands. His eyes were drawn to the blue diary that River had left there. He wondered about the crash of the Byzantium, and the picnic at Asgard. He picked up the diary, and a hand gently took it off him.

'Sorry, you're not allowed to see inside the book. It's against the rules,' River told him.

'What rules?'

'Your rules.' Once again, Rose watched them from across the room. She had an uneasy feeling about this woman. It was as if she was some kind of mistress that he didn't know about.

He went back to typing in commands when books suddenly started flying off the shelves. 'What's that? I didn't do that. Did you do that?'

'Not me,' Proper Dave said.

The Doctor's screen said "Cal Access Denied".

'What's Cal?' the Doctor asked, as more books flew across the room.

'What's causing that? Is it the little girl?' River asked him.

'But who is the little girl? What's she got to do with this place? How does the data core work? What's the principle? What's Cal?'

'Ask Mister Lux,' River suggested.

The Doctor went over to Lux and looked him in the eye. 'Cal, what is it?'

'Sorry, you didn't sign your personal experience contracts,' Lux said pompously.

The Doctor tried to control his annoyance. 'Mister Lux. Right now, you're in more danger than you've ever been in your whole life. And you're protecting a patent?'

'I'm protecting my family's pride.'

'Well, funny thing, Mister Lux. I don't want to see everyone in this room dead because some idiot thinks his pride is more important.' His annoyance was quickly turning to anger.

'Then why don't you sign his contract?' River asked him. 'I didn't either. I'm getting worse than you.' Rose noticed that familiarity again.

'Okay, okay, okay. Let's start at the beginning. What happened here? On the actual day, a hundred years ago, what physically happened?' the Doctor asked River.

'There was a message from the Library. Just one. The lights are going out. Then the computer sealed the planet, and there was nothing for a hundred years.'

'It's taken three generations of my family just to decode the seals and get back in,' Lux added.

'There was one other thing in the last message,' River started.

'That's confidential,' Lux told her.

'I trust this man with my life, with everything,' River declared.

Rose was really starting to get annoyed now. They would have to have a "time out" soon and sort this out.

'You've only just met him,' Lux said.

'No, he's only just met me,' River corrected him. She took out a small tablet computer. 'This is a data extract that came with the message.'

The Doctor read the information. 'Four thousand and twenty two saved. No survivors.'

'Four thousand and twenty two. That's the exact number of people who were in the Library when the planet was sealed,' River said.

Rose was baffled. 'But how can four thousand and twenty two people have been saved if there were no survivors?'

'That's what we're here to find out,' River explained.

'And so far, what we haven't found are any bodies,' said Lux.

As if on cue, there was a scream from a corridor that they hadn't seen before.

After finding the skeleton of Miss Evangelista in an adjoining reading room, the Doctor thought it was about time he introduced them to the Vashta Nerada. He led them back to the round room and started scanning the floor with his sonic screwdriver.

Rose noticed that River was watching the Doctor with a look on her face that she recognised. It was the same look she normally had on her face when she watched him being clever.

'You travel with him, don't you?' River asked her. 'The Doctor, you travel with him.'

Rose felt those feelings again that she'd had when she had first met Sarah Jane, and Reinette. But she had matured a lot since then, and she was secure in her marriage to the man she loved, and who loved her in return.

'I do a bit more than travel with him, thank you very much. What of it?' she asked, and then thought that now was as good a time as any to try and find out who she was. 'You know him, don't you?'

'Oh God, do I know that man. We go way back, that man and me. Just not this far back.'

'I'm sorry, what?'

'He hasn't met me yet. I sent him a message, but it went wrong. It arrived too early. This is the Doctor in the days before he knew me. And he looks at me . . . he looks right through me and it shouldn't kill me, but it does.'

That annoyed Rose. 'What are you talkin' about? Of course he looks right through you; he's married and wouldn't look at another woman. Are you just talkin' rubbish? Do you know him or don't you?' she asked angrily.

'Rose! Quiet, I'm working,' the Doctor called out.

'Sorry.'

River looked at her with awe. 'Married? Oh God, It's earlier than I thought . . .Rose? You're Rose. Rose Tyler.'

'Er, Lungbarrowmas if yer don't mind, but yeah. Why?'

'Oh I don't believe this! THE Rose Tyler . . . sorry, Lungbarrowmas. I never thought I would have the honour to meet the woman who saved him from himself.'

'Eh?'

'I do know the Doctor, but in the future. His personal future.'

'So where am I in the future?' Rose asked. She saw a hint of sadness flash across River's face.

'Spoilers. It's dangerous to interfere or have knowledge . . .'

'Of your own personal time line,' Rose finished for her with a smile. 'Yeah, I know.'

'Okay, got a live one,' the Doctor told them. 'That's not darkness down those tunnels. This is not a shadow. It's a swarm. A man eating swarm.' He threw a chicken leg into the shadow, and only the bone hit the floor. 'The piranhas of the air. The Vashta Nerada. Literally, the shadows that melt the flesh. Most planets have them, but usually in small clusters. I've never seen an infestation on this scale, or this aggressive.'

'What do you mean, most planets? Not Earth?' Rose said.

'Mmm. Earth, and a billion other worlds. Where there's meat, there's Vashta Nerada. You can see them sometimes, if you look. The dust in sunbeams.'

'If they were on Earth, we'd know.'

'Nah. Normally they live on road kill. But sometimes people go missing. Not everyone comes back out of the dark.'

'Every shadow?' River asked.

'No. But any shadow.'

'So what do we do?'

'Daleks, aim for the eyestalk. Sontarans, back of the neck. Vashta Nerada? Run. Just run.'

River looked around the round room. 'Run? Run where?'

'This is an index point. There must be an exit teleport somewhere,' the Doctor said, looking at Lux.

'Don't look at me, I haven't memorised the schematics.'

Rose had an idea. 'Doctor, the little shop. They always make you go through the little shop on the way out so they can sell you stuff.'

'You're right. Brilliant! That's why I like the little shop.'

'Okay, let's move it,' Proper Dave said.

He headed towards the shop but the Doctor spotted something. 'Actually, Proper Dave? Could you stay where you are for a moment?'

'Why?'

'I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. But you've got two shadows.'

The group looked at the floor and saw that he was correct. There were two shadows at right angles to each other.

'It's how they hunt. They latch on to a food source and keep it fresh.'

'What do I do?' Proper Dave asked nervously.

'You stay absolutely still, like there's a wasp in the room. Like there's a million wasps,' the Doctor told him.

'We're not leaving you, Proper Dave,' River said.

'Course we're not leaving him,' the Doctor said. 'Where's your helmet? Don't point, just tell me.'

'On the floor, by my bag.'

Anita went to fetch it. 'Don't cross his shadow,' the Doctor warned her, and she handed the helmet to him. 'Thanks. Now, the rest of you, helmets back on and sealed up. We'll need everything we've got.' He put Proper Dave's helmet on him.

'But, Doctor, we haven't got any helmets,' Rose noticed.

'Yeah, but we're safe anyway.'

Rose frowned. 'How are we safe?'

'We're not . . . That was a clever lie to stop you panicking.'

'Clever?' Rose asked. If that was supposed to be clever, it wasn't very . . . well, clever.

'Professor, anything I can do with the suit?' the Doctor asked her.

'What good are the damn suits? Miss Evangelista was wearing her suit. There was nothing left,' Lux said.

'We can increase the mesh density. Dial it up four hundred percent. Make it a tougher meal.'

'Okay,' the Doctor said as he used his screwdriver to adjust Proper Dave's suit. 'Eight hundred percent.' He held the sonic up for River. 'Pass it on.'

River took out a sonic screwdriver of her own. 'Gotcha.'

'What's that?' he asked her.

'It's a screwdriver.'

'It's sonic.'

'Yeah, I know.' She gave him a cheeky smile. 'Snap.'

River upgraded everyone's spacesuit, and the Doctor grabbed Rose's hand. 'With me. Come on.'

They ran through the round room and into the adjoining shop. 'What are we doin'? We shoppin'? Is it a good time to shop?' Rose asked him.

He led her over to a small dais. 'No talking, just moving. Try it. Right, stand there in the middle. It's a teleport. Stand in the middle. Can't send the others, TARDIS won't recognise them.'

'What are you doin'?' asked Rose with concern.

The Doctor went to the control lectern and started adjusting the settings. 'You don't have a suit. You're not safe.'

'You don't have a suit, so you're in just as much danger as I am and I'm not leavin' you!'

'Rose, let me explain,' he said as he activated the teleporter.

He'd done it to her again. It was Satellite 5 all over again, but he couldn't risk his wife, who was carrying his unborn child. She would be safe in the TARDIS . . . or so he thought.


	11. Forest of the Dead

**Chapter 11**

 **Forest of the Dead**

 **High Dependancy Ward.**

 **Royal** **Hope** **Hospital.**

 **Chancellor Street, London.**

'GAHK!' Rose was choking on something that was stuck in the back of her throat. She felt a tube being drawn out of her throat and mouth, causing her to cough.

'It's all right Sweetheart, it's all right Rose. Just breath, take some deep breaths,' a woman told her in a reassuring tone.

'Wha?' she breathed with a hoarse voice. 'Where am I?'

'Don't try and talk just yet, your vocal cords will be a little out of practice,' the woman said. 'You're in hospital, and you've just woken up. Welcome back.'

Rose felt too drowsy to ask the woman what she was on about, and drifted off to sleep. Some time later, she didn't know how long later, she woke up. She opened her eyes, and saw a young woman in theatre blues, adjusting an infusion pump on a stand next to the bed she was lying in.

'Hi,' the nurse said. 'How are you feeling?'

'Tired . . . No, weak,' Rose said.

'That's normal after what you've been through.'

'What do you mean, "What you've been through"? What have I been through?'

'Now don't you worry yourself about that right now. My name's Angela, I'm the nurse who's been looking after you. Doctor Moon will be along shortly to talk to you.'

'Doctor? Oh my God, the Doctor! Where is he?'

'Don't worry, Doctor Moon will be here soon.'

'No, not that doctor, my Doctor. My husband THE Doctor.'

'Oh right,' Angela said awkwardly. 'Doctor Moon will explain everything . . . ah, here he is now.'

Rose turned her head to look at the door, where a dark skinned man in a suit walked into the room.

'Hello Rose, my name is Doctor Moon. How are you feeling?'

'Confused,' she replied. 'What's goin' on? What am I doin' here?'

'You are here in hospital because you've been in a coma for the last few weeks.'

'Coma? Why the hell was I in a coma?'

'Ah, amnesia is common after a traumatic event. You were in a road traffic collision Rose. A car had a tyre blow out and the driver lost control. He collided with your car and forced it off the road, where it rolled down a bank and wrapped itself around a tree. It was a miracle you survived.'

'And where's my husband, the Doctor, is he in a coma as well?' She saw the look on Doctor Moon's face, and knew instantly that he wasn't in a coma. Tears started to well up in her eyes.

'I am so sorry Rose. Your husband didn't survive the crash. He . . . he was declared dead at the scene,' he said sadly.

'No!' Rose sobbed. 'He can't be dead. He can't.'

'I'm sorry Rose. His side of the car hit the tree, there was no way anyone could survive.'

'But you don't understand. He's not like normal men. He has this ability to regenerate,' she sobbed.

'Really?' he said with a frown. 'Does it have anything to do with a golden light?'

'Yes! Yes! It's how he cheats death. Did he do it?'

'Well, I didn't give the report any credence when I read it, but the paramedics who attended the incident reported seeing a golden mist travel from the driver to the passenger as they climbed down the bank.'

'No!' Rose cried. The Doctor had given her his Artron energy to save her life.

Her nurse Angela, sat on her bed and held her hand. 'I'm sorry about your husband Rose, but you have to focus on the future, on your baby.'

Rose gasped through her sobs. 'Oh my God. The baby. I didn't think. Is the baby all right?'

Doctor Moon smiled. 'The baby is fine. It's well protected in the thick muscle of the womb.'

Rose started to sob again, grabbing Angela in a desperate hug. 'Oh Doctor . . . Doctor . . . What am I gonna do without you?'

'Is there anyone we can contact for you?' Doctor Moon asked. 'Any family?'

'No. I'm all alone.'

 **The Library.**

 **The Library Planet.**

Somewhere amongst the massive shelves of books, the Doctor was standing on a box, trying to sonic a light fitting. 'Trying to boost the power. Light doesn't stop them, but it slows them down.'

'So, what's the plan? Do we have a plan?' River asked him.

The Doctor chose not to answer. 'Your screwdriver looks exactly like mine.'

'Yeah. You gave it to me.'

'I don't give my screwdriver to anyone.'

River gave him a saucy smile. 'I'm not anyone.'

'Who are you?'

It was River's turn not to answer. 'What's the plan?'

'I teleported Rose back to the TARDIS. If we don't get back there in under five hours, emergency program one will activate.'

'Take her home, yeah. We need to get a shift on,' River agreed, showing she knew more about the TARDIS than she should.

The Doctor checked the readings on his sonic screwdriver. 'She's not there, I should have received a signal. The console signals me if there's a teleport breach.'

'Well, maybe the coordinates have slipped. The equipment here's ancient.'

The Doctor hurried to a nearby Node. 'Rose Longbarrowmas. There's a Rose Longbarrowmas somewhere in this library. Do you have the software to locate her position?'

The Node turned its head, and the Doctor's hearts missed a beat. The Node had Rose's face. ['Rose Longbarrowmas has left the Library. Rose Longbarrowmas has been saved.']

'Rose,' he breathed.

['Rose Longbarrowmas has left the Library. Rose Longbarrowmas has been saved.']

'How can it be Rose? How's that possible?' River asked.

The Rose Node continued on a loop. ['Rose Longbarrowmas has left the Library. Rose Longbarrowmas has been saved.']

The Doctor stroked the Node's cheek. 'Rose.'

['Rose Longbarrowmas has left the Library.']

'Hey, who turned out the lights?' Proper Dave's communicator asked.

'Doctor!' River called to him, but he was transfixed by Rose's face.

'Doctor, we've got to go now!'

River and the Doctor ran, followed by Lux, the Other Dave and Anita. They came to a corner, and watched a shadow cover the floor, they were trapped between shadows.

'Doctor, what are we going to do?' River asked him.

'Hey, who turned out the lights?' Proper Dave's zombie asked as it lumbered down the corridor towards them.

['Rose Longbarrowmas has left the Library. Rose Longbarrowmas has been saved,'] they heard from the Node.

 **48 Bucknall House.**

 **Powell Estate.**

 **London.**

Rose put the paintbrush in the coffee jar of white spirit and twirled it around, before putting a hand in the small of her back and straightening up with an "oof". Her other hand rubbed the bump in the front of her dungarees.

'Well kid. There ya go, all ready for your arrival,' she said to her unborn child. She walked out of the spare room of her old flat in Bucknall House, and headed for the kitchen to make a cup of tea, when there was a knock at the door.

'Doctor Moon!' she said as she opened the door. 'How nice to see you. Come in, come in. I was just about to make a cup of tea.'

'Thank you Rose; that would be lovely. You're looking well.'

'Yeah, I'm feelin' really good at the moment. I've just finished paintin' the nursery.'

'Don't over do it will you. It's not long now is it?'

'No, any day now . . . It's funny, but it doesn't seem like any time since I was in that hospital bed.'

'Yes,' he said with a smile. 'And then you thought about your baby, and here you are.'

'Yeah,' Rose said putting a mug of tea that she didn't remember making, on the kitchen table in front of him.

'And how are you coping Rose?'

Rose sat at the table opposite and smiled. The irony of being a single mum on the estate wasn't lost on her. There were plenty of young single mum's living in the flats, but she doubted any of them were widows.

'I'm coping fine thank you. Ru next door looks out for me, she an' Mum were always close. An' Billy Shakespeare from number 37 is always calling by.' She leaned forward conspiratorially. 'To be honest, I think he fancies me,' she said with a big grin. Doctor Moon laughed. It was good to see her smiling again.

'Charlie Dickens from across the way has always been like an uncle to me, an' Shareen and Keisha come over and keep me up to date on all the gossip. They are goin' to be such brilliant aunties.'

'It sounds like you've got a good support network.'

'Yeah, I never knew there was so much love on the estate,' she said with a sad smile.

Doctor Moon nodded. 'It's a shame, but it usually takes a tragedy to reveal it.'

Before Rose realised, they had drunk their tea, and Doctor Moon was ready to leave. Rose saw him to the door.

'I'll see you again soon Rose. Good luck with the birth.'

Rose kissed him on the cheek. 'Thank you. See you soon.' She watched him walk down the walkway to the stairs, and leant over the railings to look out over the estate. Something caught her eye in the courtyard below that sent a shiver down her spine. There was a woman, dressed in black, with a black veil over her face. And although her face was covered, Rose knew she was looking directly at her.

Rose straightened up and stepped back from the railings. She wasn't scared, just perturbed. She went back into the flat and shut the door.

 **The Library.**

 **The Library Planet.**

River took out a high tech pistol that the Doctor had seen before and aimed it at a wall. A square hole appeared in the wall. 'This way, quickly. Move!'

'Hey, who turned out the lights?' the Proper Dave zombie repeated as they ran down the corridor. River used her gun again, and gained access to another round room where a large orange moon could be seen hanging in the sky through the glass domed ceiling.

'OK, we've got a clear spot,' she told them. 'In, in, in! Right in the centre. In the middle of the light, quickly. Don't let your shadows cross. Doctor?'

The Doctor was on the floor, scanning the area. 'I'm doing it.'

'There's no lights here. Sunset's coming. We can't stay long. Have you found a live one?' River said.

'Maybe. It's getting harder to tell,' he said, banging his sonic with his palm. 'What's wrong with you?'

'We're going to need a chicken leg. Who's got a chicken leg?'

River asked the group. Other Dave took one out of his back pack.

'Thanks, Dave.' She threw the meat into the shadow, and once again it was just bone before it hit the ground.

'Okay. Okay, we've got a hot one. Watch your feet,' River warned.

'They won't attack until there's enough of them. But they've got our scent now. They're coming.'

'Oh, yeah, who is he? You haven't even told us. You just expect us to trust him?' Other Dave said.

'He's the Doctor,' River told them, as if that was explanation enough.

'And who is the Doctor?' Lux asked.

'The only story you'll ever tell, if you survive him,' River said.

'You say he's your friend, but he doesn't even know who you are,' Anita said.

'Listen, all you need to know is this. I'd trust that man to the end of the universe. And actually, we've been.'

'He doesn't act like he trusts you,' Anita observed.

'Yeah, there's a tiny problem. He hasn't met me yet,' she said as she went over to where the Doctor was still scanning shadows with his malfunctioning sonic screwdriver. 'What's wrong with it?'

'There's a signal coming from somewhere, interfering with it.'

'Then use the red settings.'

'It doesn't have a red setting.'

'Well, use the dampers.'

'It doesn't have dampers.'

'It will do one day,' River told him, offering him her sonic screwdriver.

The Doctor took River's sonic screwdriver. 'So, some time in the future, I just give you my screwdriver.'

'Yeah.'

'Why would I do that?'

'I didn't pluck it from your cold dead hands, if that's what you're worried about.'

'And I know that because?'

'Listen to me. You've lost your wife. You're angry. I understand. But you need to be less emotional, Doctor, right now.'

'Less emotional? I'm not emotional!'

'There are five people in this room still alive. Focus on that. Dear God, you're hard work young.'

'Young?' he asked with a frown. 'Who are you?'

'Oh, for heaven's sake!' Lux said. 'Look at the pair of you. We're all going to die right here, and you're just squabbling like an old married couple.'

That observation was too close for comfort for River. 'Doctor, one day I'm going to be someone that you trust completely, but I can't wait for you to find that out. So I'm going to prove it to you. And I'm sorry. I'm really very sorry.' She whispered a word in his ear, a Gallifreyan word. A word that only two people in the whole universe should know.

'Are we good?' she asked him, looking into his eyes. 'Doctor, are we good?'

When he heard his name, he knew who River was. Or more accurately, who she would become. 'Yeah, we're good,' he said sadly, knowing that at some point in his future he would lose Rose. He just hoped that future hadn't already begun.

'Good!' River took back her screwdriver and left him.

'Know what's interesting about my screwdriver?' he asked. 'Very hard to interfere with. Practically nothing's strong enough. Well, some hairdryers, but I'm working on that. So there is a very strong signal coming from somewhere, and it wasn't there before. So what's new? What's changed? Come on! What's new? What's different?'

'I don't know. Nothing,' Other Dave said. 'It's getting dark?'

'It's a screwdriver. It works in the dark . . . Moon rise. Tell me about the moon. What's there?'

Lux explained. 'It's not real. It was built as part of the Library. It's just a Doctor Moon.'

'What's a Doctor Moon?' the Doctor asked him.

'A virus checker. It supports and maintains the main computer at the core of the planet.'

' Well, still active. It's signalling. Look. Someone somewhere in this library is alive and communicating with the moon. Or, possibly alive and drying their hair. No, the signal is definitely coming from the moon. I'm blocking it, but it's trying to break through.'

A shimmering image of Rose appeared.

'Doctor!' River gasped.

'Rose!' he cried. She was alive. And then her image faded away.

'That was her!' River declared. 'That was your wife! Can you get her back? What was that?'

'Hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm trying to find the wavelength. Argh, I'm being blocked.'

'Professor?' Anita said quietly.

'Just a moment.'

'It's important . . . I have two shadows.'

'Okay. Helmets on, everyone,' River commanded. 'Anita, I'll get yours.'

'It didn't do Proper Dave any good,' Anita sobbed.

'Just keep it together, okay?' River said sympathetically.

'Keeping it together,' Anita told her. 'I'm only crying. I'm about to die. It's not an overreaction.'

River put the helmet over Anita's head.

'Hang on,' The Doctor said, and sonicked the visor black.

River gasped. 'Oh God, they've got inside.'

'No, no, no. I just tinted her visor. Maybe they'll think they're already in there, leave her alone.'

'Do you think they can be fooled like that?'

'Maybe. I don't know. It's a swarm. It's not like we chat.'

'Can you still see in there?' Other Dave asked her.

'Just about.'

'Just, just, just stay back,' the Doctor instructed. 'Professor, a quick word, please.'

'What?'

'Down here,' he said, crouching on the floor.

'What is it?'

'Look, you said there are five people still alive in this room,' he reminded her.

'Yeah, so?'

'So, why are there six?'

Behind the group, standing by a bookcase, was an astronaut with a skull in the visor. 'Hey, who turned out the lights?'

'RUUNNN!' the Doctor shouted.

'Hey, who turned out the lights?' the zombie repeated as it lurched towards them.

The group ran through a high level walkway to another Library skyscraper. 'Professor, go ahead,' the Doctor instructed. 'Find a safe spot.'

'It's a carnivorous swarm in a suit. You can't reason with it,' she argued.

'Five minutes.'

'Other Dave, stay with him. Pull him out when he's too stupid to live. Two minutes, Doctor.'

Zombie Dave barged through the doors. 'Hey, who turned out the lights?'

'You hear that? Those words? That is the very last thought of the man who wore that suit before you climbed inside and stripped his flesh. That's a man's soul trapped inside a neural relay, going round and round forever. Now, if you don't have the decency to let him go, how about this? Use him. Talk to me. It's easy. Neural relay. Just point and think. Use him, talk to me.'

'Hey, who turned out the lights?'

'The Vashta Nerada live on all the worlds in this system, but you hunt in forests. What are you doing in a library?'

'We should go. Doctor!' Other Dave said nervously.

'In a minute. You came to the Library to hunt. Why? Just tell me why?'

Zombie Dave stopped his advance. 'We-did-not,' an echoey voice said.

'Oh, hello,' the Doctor said in his "now here's trouble" tone of voice.

'We-did-not.'

'Take it easy, you'll get the hang of it. Did not what?'

'We-did-not-come-here.'

'Well, of course you did. Of course you came here.'

'We-come-from-here.'

'From here?'

'We-hatched-here.'

'But you hatch from trees. From spores in trees.'

'These-are-our-forests.'

'You're nowhere near a forest. Look around you.'

'These-are-our-forests.'

'You're not in a forest, you're in a library. There are no trees in a . . . library.' Of course! They were in a forest of books.

'We should go. Doctor!' Other Dave reminded him.

'Books. You came in the books. Microspores in a million, million books.'

'We should go. Doctor!'

The Doctor looked out over the city through a large window. 'Oh, look at that. The forests of the Vashta Nerada, pulped and printed and bound. A million, million books, hatching shadows.'

'We should go. Doctor!'

He turned to look at what used to be Other Dave. 'Oh, Dave! Oh Dave, I'm so sorry.' Other Dave was also a skeleton now.

'Hey, who turned out the lights?'

'We should go. Doctor!

'Thing about me, I'm stupid,' the Doctor told them. 'I talk too much. Always babbling on. This gob doesn't stop for anything. Want to know the only reason I'm still alive? Always stay near the door.'

The Doctor opened a trapdoor with his sonic screwdriver and dropped through the floor. He hung on to a support strut and inched his way along, screwdriver clenched between his teeth.

 **48 Bucknall House.**

 **Powell Estate.**

 **London.**

Rose was sitting on the sofa, just where her mum used to sit, nursing her new born daughter. She had an enormous smile on her face and tears in her eyes. 'Oh your daddy would be so proud of you,' she told the infant as she wiped the tears from her cheeks. 'And your gran. They would, they would be burstin' with pride.'

She gently rubbed her cheek with her finger. 'An' we are gonna do so much together, you an' me. I'll teach you what your daddy taught me; that one person can make a difference. That you stand up for what you believe in. Oh we are gonna be magnificent, in his honour.'

After her daughter, Andrea Suzette had finished feeding, she stood up and patted her back to get her wind up, and then lay her down in her carry cot. Rose was suddenly aware of something flickering by the door to the balcony. When she looked up, her breath caught in her chest. It was the Doctor, with his brainy specs on. He was all shimmery and transparent, but it was him and he was looking right at her.

['Doctor!'] She heard River Song gasp.

['Rose!'] He cried.

'Doctor?!' Rose cried as she rushed forward, but he faded away, and all she was looking at was the view of the estate out of the window. 'What the hell is happenin' to me?'

She heard the letterbox rattle, and went to the front door. There was a folded piece of paper on the mat, which she picked up and unfolded. It was a message.

"Dear Rose, the world is wrong. Meet me at your usual play park, two o'clock tomorrow."

 **Recreational Play Area.**

 **Powell Estate.**

 **London.**

Rose sat on a bench, watching her four year old daughter playing on the climbing frame. The mysterious woman dressed in black sat next to her.

'I got your note last night. "The world is wrong". What's that mean?' Rose asked her.

'No, you didn't.'

'I'm sorry, what?'

'You didn't get my note last night. You got it a few seconds ago. Having decided to come, you suddenly found yourself arriving. Last night your daughter was newborn, today she is what, four years old? That is how time progresses here, in the manner of a dream. You've suspected that before, haven't you, Rose Lungbarrowmas?'

'How do you know me?'

'We met before, in the Library. You were kind to me. I hope now to return that kindness.'

'Your voice. I recognise it.'

'Yes, you do. I am what is left of Miss Evangelista. I suggested we meet here because a playground is the easiest place to see it. To see the lie.'

'What lie?'

'The children. Look at the children.'

Rose looked at the children playing on the swings and climbing frames. 'Why do you wear that veil? If I had a face like yours, I wouldn't hide it.'

'You remember my face, then? The memories are all still there. The Library, the Doctor, me. You've just been programmed not to look.'

'Sorry, but you're dead.'

'In a way, we're all dead here, Rose. We are the dead of the Library.'

'Well, what about the children? The children aren't dead. My daughter isn't dead.'

'Your daughter was never alive.'

'Don't you say that. Don't you dare say that about my daughter!'

'Look at your daughter. Look at all of the children, really look.'

Rose looked closely, and noticed that all the children in the playground, boys and girls, had Andrea's face, repeated over and over.

'They're not real. Do you see it now? They're all the same. All the children of this world, the same boy and the same girl, over and over again.'

'Stop it. Just stop it. Why are you doin' this? Why are you wearin' that veil?' She pulled off Evangelista's veil. Her face was distorted, skewed and stretched. Rose screamed. 'What happened to your face?'

'Transcription errors. Destroyed my face, did wonders for my intellect. I'm a very poor copy of myself.'

'Where are we? Why are the children all the same?'

'The same pattern over and over. It saves an awful lot of space.'

'Space?'

'Cyberspace.'

'Your physical self is stored in the Library as an energy signature. It can be actualised again whenever you or the library requires.'

'The Library? If my face ends up on one of those statues . . .'

'You remember the statues?'

'Wait, no, just hang on. So this ain't the real me? This ain't my real body? But I've been dietin'.'

'What you see around you, this entire world; is nothing more than virtual reality.'

'So why do you look like that?'

'I had no choice. You teleported. You're a perfect reproduction. I was just a data ghost caught in the Wi-Fi and automatically uploaded.'

'An' it made you clever?'

'We're only strings of numbers in here. I think a decimal point may have shifted in my IQ. But my face has been the bigger advantage. I have the two qualities you require to see absolute truth. I am brilliant and unloved.'

'If this is all a dream, whose dream is it?'

'It's hard to see everything in the data core, even for me, but there is a word. Just one word. Cal.'

Andrea fell from the swing and started to cry. 'Mummy, my knee!'

Rose stood up and hurried over to her daughter. 'Oh! Oh, look at that knee. Oh, look at that silly old knee!'

'She's not real. She's fiction. I'm sorry, but now that you understand that, you won't be able to keep a hold. She is sustained only by your belief.'

'You don't know. You don't have children.'

'Neither do you. Rose, for your own sake, let her go!'

'Mummy, what did the lady mean? Aren't I real?' Andrea asked. Rose took her hand and led her away. 'Where are we going?'

'Home!'

 **48 Bucknall House.**

 **Powell Estate.**

 **London.**

'That was quick, wasn't it, Mummy?' Andrea said and then looked out of the balcony window. 'Mummy, what's wrong with the sky?'

Rose looked out at the unnatural red sky and tensed up in fear. 'Mummy, you're hurting my hand.'

Rose was starting to panic. 'You just . . . you just stay where I can see you, all right? You, you don't get out of my sight.'

'Is it bedtime?' Andrea asked, and suddenly she was tucked up in bed.

'Okay. That was lovely, wasn't it? That was a lovely bedtime. We had warm milk, and we watched cartoons, and then Mummy read you a lovely bedtime story,' Rose said, trying to convince herself that she had really done that.

'Mummy, I'm not real, am I?'

'Of course you're real. You're as real as anything. Why do you say that?'

'But, Mummy, sometimes, when you're not here, it's like I'm not here. Even when you close your eyes, I just stop.'

'Well, Mummy promises to never close her eyes again.'

Rose blinked, and Andrea had vanished. 'No! Please! No, please! No! No, no! No, no!' Rose cried frantically.

 **The Library.**

 **The Library Planet.**

River and her remaining team were in another round room. She was checking the shadows with her screwdriver. 'You know, it's funny, I keep wishing the Doctor was here.

'The Doctor is here, isn't he?' Anita asked in confusion. 'He is coming back, right?'

'You know when you see a photograph of someone you know, but it's from years before you knew them, and it's like they're not quite finished. They're not done yet. Well, yes, the Doctor's here. He came when I called, just like he always does. But not my Doctor. Now my Doctor, I've seen whole armies turn and run away. And he'd just swagger off back to his TARDIS and open the doors with a snap of his fingers. The Doctor in the TARDIS. Next stop, everywhere.'

'Spoilers,' the Doctor said, walking into the room. 'Nobody can open a TARDIS by snapping their fingers. It doesn't work like that.

'It does for the Doctor.'

'I am the Doctor.'

'Yeah. Some day.'

'How are you doing?'

'Where's Other Dave?'

'Not coming. Sorry.'

'Well, if they've taken him, why haven't they gotten me yet?' Anita asked him.

'I don't know. Maybe tinting your visor's making a difference.'

'It's making a difference all right. No one's ever going to see my face again.'

'Can I get you anything?'

'An old age would be nice. Anything you can do?'

'I'm all over it.'

'Doctor. When we first met you, you didn't trust Professor Song.

And then she whispered a word in your ear, and you did. My life so far. I could do with a word like that. What did she say? Give a dead girl a break. Your secrets are safe with me.'

'Safe,' he said in sudden realisation.

'What?'

'Safe. You don't say saved. Nobody says saved. You say safe. The data fragment! What did it say?'

'Four thousand and twenty two people saved. No survivors,' Lux quoted.

'Doctor?' River asked.

'Nobody says saved. Nutters say saved. You say safe. You see, it didn't mean safe. It meant . . . it literally meant, saved!'

The Doctor went to a terminal and accessed the Library Archive File. 'See, there it is, right there. A hundred years ago, massive power surge. All the teleports going at once. Soon as the Vashta Nerada hit their hatching cycle, they attack. Someone hits the alarm. The computer tries to teleport everyone out.'

'It tried to teleport four thousand twenty two people?' River asked him.

'It succeeded. Pulled them all out, but then what? Nowhere to send them. Nowhere safe in the whole Library. Vashta Nerada growing in every shadow. Four thousand and twenty two people all beamed up and nowhere to go. They're stuck in the system, waiting to be sent, like emails. So what's a computer to do? What does a computer always do?'

River understood what he was implying. 'It saved them.'

The Doctor drew on a large polished table. 'The Library. A whole world of books, and right at the core, the biggest hard drive in history. The index to everything ever written, backup copies of every single book. The computer saved four thousand and twenty two people the only way a computer can. It saved them to the hard drive.'

The terminal screen suddenly went blank. 'No, no, no, no, no, no, no!' the Doctor called out.

The computer made an announcement. ['All Library systems are permanently offline. Sorry for any inconvenience. Shortly . . .']

'We need to stop this,' Lux said. 'We've got to save Cal.'

'What is it? What is Cal?' the Doctor asked him.

'We need to get to the main computer. I'll show you. Doctor: It's at the core of the planet.'

'Well, then. Let's go.' River said, pointing her screwdriver at the Library logo in the middle of the compass rose in the floor. It opened up to reveal a floating platform. 'Gravity platform.'

'I bet I like you,' the Doctor said with a grin.

'Oh, you do,' River replied with a grin of her own.

The four of them stepped on to the platform, and started to descend. They arrived at the data core and an automated voice echoed in the room. [ 'Autodestruct in fifteen minutes.']

The Doctor looked up to see a globe with swirling energy inside it. 'The data core. Over four thousand living minds trapped inside it.'

'Yeah, well, they won't be living much longer. We're running out of time,' River told him.

The Doctor found an access terminal and logged on. ['Help me. Please, help me,'] a young girl's voice pleaded.

'What's that?' Anita asked.

'Was that a child?' asked River.

The Doctor worked on the terminal. 'The computer's in sleep mode. I can't wake it up. I'm trying.'

'Doctor, these readings,' River said.

'I know. You'd think it was dreaming.'

'It is dreaming,' Lux told them. 'Of a normal life, and a lovely Dad, and of every book ever written.'

'Computers don't dream,' Anita said.

['Help me. Please help me,'] the girl pleaded again.

'No, but little girls do,' Lux said, pulling a circuit breaker to open a door. They ran inside, and a Node turned to face them.

['Please help me. Please help me,'] the girl's face said.

River gasped. 'Oh, my God.'

'It's the little girl. The girl we saw in the computer,' Anita realised.

'She's not in the computer. In a way, she is the computer. The main command node. This is Cal,' Lux informed them.

'Cal is a child?' the Doctor said in amazement. 'A child hooked up to a mainframe? Why didn't you tell me this? I needed to know this!'

'Because she's family! Cal. Charlotte Abigail Lux. My grandfather's youngest daughter. She was dying, so he built her a library and put her living mind inside, with a moon to watch over her, and all of human history to pass the time. Any era to live in, any book to read. She loved books more than anything, and he gave her them all. He asked only that she be left in peace. A secret, not a freak show.'

'So you weren't protecting a patent, you were protecting her,' the Doctor said quietly.

'This is only half a life, of course. But it's for ever.'

'And then the shadows came.'

['The shadows. I have to. I have to save. Have to save.']

'And she saved them. She saved everyone in the Library. Folded them into her dreams and kept them safe.'

'Then why didn't she tell us?' Anita asked.

'Because she's forgotten. She's got over four thousand living minds chatting away inside her head. It must be like being, well . . . me.'

'So what do we do?' River asked.

['Autodestruct in ten minutes,'] the computer announced.

The Doctor went back to the data core. 'Easy! We beam all the people out of the data core. The computer will reset and stop the countdown . . . Difficult. Charlotte doesn't have enough memory space left to make the transfer. Easy! I'll hook myself up to the computer. She can borrow my memory space.'

'Difficult,' River said. 'It'll kill you stone dead.'

'Yeah, it's easy to criticise.'

'It'll burn out both your hearts and don't think you'll regenerate.'

'I'll try my hardest not to die. Honestly, it's my main thing.'

'Doctor!' River said sharply.

'I'm right, this works. Shut up. Now listen. You and Luxy boy, back up to the main library. Prime any data cells you can find for maximum download, and before you say anything else, Professor, can I just mention in passing as you're here . . . shut up.'

'Oh! I hate you sometimes.'

'I know!'

'Mister Lux, with me. Anita, if he dies, I'll kill him!' River said as they left the data core.


	12. Midnight

**Authors note:** **Thanks to** **CamilleHelen for her review of "What If?", who asked about the Time Lord marriage bond.**

 **Chapter 12**

 **Midnight**

'What about the Vashta Nerada?' Anita asked the Doctor.

'These are their forests. I'm going to seal Charlotte inside her little world, take everybody else away. The shadows can swarm to their hearts' content.'

'So you think they're just going to let us go?'

'Best offer they're going to get.'

'You're going to make 'em an offer?'

'They'd better take it, because right now, I'm finding it very hard to make any kind of offer at all. You know what? I really liked Anita. She was brave, even when she was crying. And she never gave in. And you ate her.'

He cleared her visor to reveal a skull. 'But I'm going to let that pass, just as long as you let them pass.'

'How long have you known?'

'I counted the shadows. You only have one now. She's nearly gone. Be kind.'

'These are our forests. We are not kind.'

'I'm giving you back your forests, but you are giving me them. You are letting them go.'

'These are our forests. They are our meat.'

Shadows stretched out from Vashta Nerada Anita towards the Doctor. 'Don't play games with me. You just killed someone I liked. That is not a safe place to stand. I'm the Doctor, and you're in the biggest library in the universe. Look me up.'

There was a pause, and then the shadows withdrew. 'You have one day,' the Vashta Nerada said as the spacesuit collapsed.

River crouched down to the fallen skeleton of her friend. 'Oh, Anita.'

'I'm sorry. She's been dead a while now,' the Doctor said, and then realised she was still there. 'I told you to go!'

'Lux can manage without me, but you can't.' She punched him on the jaw, knocking him out.

['Autodestruct in two minutes,'] the Doctor heard the computer say as he came back to consciousness.

'Oh, no, no, no, no. Come on, what are you doing? That's my job.'

'Oh, and I'm not allowed to have a career, I suppose?'

The Doctor tried to get up, and realised he was secured to a bracket. 'Why am I handcuffed? Why do you even have handcuffs?'

River gave him a saucy smile. 'Spoilers.'

'This is not a joke. Stop this now. This is going to kill you! I'd have a chance, you don't have any.'

'You wouldn't have a chance, and neither do I. I'm timing it for the end of the countdown. There'll be a blip in the command flow. That way it should improve our chances of a clean download.'

'River, please. No.'

'Funny thing is, this means you've always known how I was going to die. All the time we've been together, you knew I was coming here. The last time I saw you, the real you, the future you, I mean, you turned up on my doorstep, with a new haircut and a suit. You took me to Darillium to see the Singing Towers. What a night that was. The Towers sang, and you cried.'

['Autodestuct in one minute.']

'You wouldn't tell me why, but I suppose you knew it was time. My time. Time to come to the library. You even gave me your screwdriver. That should have been a clue.'

The Doctor was looking for his sonic screwdriver and saw the two screwdrivers and her diary just out of reach.

'There's nothing you can do.'

'You can let me do this.'

'If you die here, it'll mean I've never met you.'

'Time can be rewritten.'

'Not those times. Not one line. Don't you dare. It's okay. It's okay. It's not over for you. You'll see me again. You've got all of that to come. You and me, time and space. You watch us run.'

'River, you know my name.' Only his wife knew his name.

['Autodestruct in ten.']

'You whispered my name in my ear.' Rose was his wife.

['Nine . . . eight . . . seven.']

'There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name. There's only one time I could.' And that would be when he got married.

'Hush, now . . .'

['Four . . . three.']

'Spoilers.'

['Two . . . one.']

River joined two power cables together, and there was a blinding light.

Back in the Reception Area, Lux was working at the desk terminal when a man came up to him. 'Excuse me? What happened? How did we get here?'

Lux looked up from the terminal and saw thousands of people milling about. 'Look at you. You're back! You're all back! He did it! You're all back. Look at you!'

He went down the marble stairs to the balcony. 'Look at that. Oh, look at that. He did it. Four thousand and twenty two people, saved.'

Rose had suddenly appeared in the dusty old hall where the TARDIS had originally landed, surrounded by thousands of people, four thousand and twenty two to be exact, and immediately started to look for her husband. She spotted him coming through the double doors, accompanied by Strackman Lux, who had found him handcuffed to a conduit near the core.

They ran towards each other and fell into a passionate hug and kiss. 'You're back!' he laughed, swinging her around. Rose was crying with the emotions that had overwhelmed her.

'Yeah, it was 'orrible. When you teleported me to the TARDIS, I ended up in hospital. They told me we'd been in a car crash and that you'd been killed,' she sobbed.

'There was this doctor, Doctor Moon, an' he looked after me. And then I had a beautiful baby girl, an' I loved her so much because it was like there was a part of you there with me, and then I saw your ghost.'

She calmed down and released him from the hug, and saw the haunted look in his eyes. 'Where's that woman, Professor Song and her mates?' The look he gave her told her everything without him having to utter a word. 'Oh Doctor, I'm sorry.'

'Yeah,' he said sadly.

A computer generated voice had started giving instructions to the assembled masses. ['Please be patient. Only three can teleport at a time. Do not state your intended destination until you arrive in your designated slot.']

'Are you all right?' she asked him.

'I'm always all right,' he said, giving his stock answer.

'Yeah, I'm all right, too.' They looked at each other, and their faces told them more than their words. They weren't all right, but they would be, because they'd got each other.

'Come on,' he said, holding her hand. They felt that tingle up their spines, and they walked down the steps to the balcony, where the Doctor placed River's diary on the balcony rail, tracing the shape of TARDIS panels on its cover.

'Your friend . . . Professor Song . . . She knew you in the future, but she didn't know me,' she told him. 'What happens to me? Because when she heard my name, the way she looked at me . . .'

'Rose,' he interrupted. 'This is her diary . . . My future . . . I could look you up . . . What do you think . . .? Shall we peek at the end?' he said. He thought he knew what her answer would be, but he had to give her the option, he owed her that.

Rose looked up to the ceiling and then into his expectant eyes. 'Spoilers . . . right?'

He smiled at her. 'Right.' He was right, she'd made the right choice, and he was so proud of her. He took River's sonic screwdriver out of his inside pocket, and put it on the diary, a final resting place to the memory of Professor River Song.

'Come on,' he said, moving away and up the steps. 'The next chapter's this way.'

As they climbed the steps, and headed into the now busy hall, that final gesture got him thinking, and the thought disturbed him. His future self had given River that sonic screwdriver, and that posed a question. He stopped suddenly, turned around, and ran back down the steps, with Rose close on his heels.

'Why? Why would I give her my screwdriver? Why would I do that?' he asked himself. 'Thing is, future me had years to think about it, all those years to think of a way to save her, and what he did was give her a screwdriver,' he said. 'WHY WOULD I DO THAT?' he shouted.

He examined the sonic, and found a small panel that he managed to unclip. Underneath, were two of five green LED lights, and one of those started to flash. 'Oh! Oh! Oh, look at that.' His future self hadn't just given her a sonic screwdriver, he'd given her a way to live forever in the library computer; he'd given her a neural relay. 'I'm very good!' he said excitedly.

'What have you done?' Rose asked him.

'Saved her,' he said with a manic grin, showing her the green LED's.

He started to run, and run, and run. He ran through hallways and reading rooms, leapt over book trolleys, past rows and rows of book shelves. 'Stay with me! You can do it, stay with me! Come on, you and me, one last run!'

He ran until he got to the gravity platform that led down to the computer core. The platform would take too much time, and as usual, for a Time Lord, that was the one thing he didn't have enough of.

'Sorry, River, shortcut!' he said, pointing the sonic at the interface and disabling it.

['Platform disabled,'] the computer said, and he dived head first into the gravity well, using the sonic to control his landing.

He ran to the computer core interface and shoved the end of the sonic into the receptacle. He noticed that all the lights were out now, and he didn't know if he had been in time. Once again, it all came down to time. Blue, spider webs of energy, crackled around the interface and up the cabling. When he looked over to the Charlotte Node, she was smiling at him. He'd done it, he'd made it in time, River Song had left the library, River Song had been saved.

Rose stood by the doors of the TARDIS, still watching people standing on the teleporter pads. Eventually, everyone was gone, and one of the library staff came up to her.

'Are you all right Miss? We are the last to go now; do you need a teleport out?'

'Er, no, it's all right, I've got a ride thanks . . . you go and get off now.' She took the key out of her pocket, and opened the TARDIS door, stepping inside, and closing it behind her. She walked wearily up the ramp to the console, turned around, and perched her bum on the edge, watching the doors, and waiting for her husband to return.

A while later, the Doctor burst through the double doors and walked into the deserted hall, noticing that it was exactly as it was when they had arrived. He stood in front of the TARDIS, and remembered a conversation with the enigmatic River Song.

"Now my Doctor, I've seen whole armies turn and run away. And he'd just swagger off back to his TARDIS and open the doors with a snap of his fingers", she had told him.

He raised his arm, and clicked his fingers, willing the TARDIS to fulfil her prophecy. The doors flipped inwards, spilling light onto the wooden floor in front of him. He could hear the throb of the TARDIS inside, and a smile spread across his face.

He saw his wife push herself off the console and watch as he walked inside, her face full of concern. He walked up to her, put his arms around her, and looked into her eyes, before turning and looking at the doors. Rose followed his gaze, as he raised his arm and clicked his fingers, closing the doors.

'When did you learn to do that then?' she asked quietly.

'Just now, when I was outside . . . River said that the Doctor she knew could do it.'

'Oh, right,' she said, not really understanding how someone he had never met could know him so well. 'How'd it go with River, were you in time?'

He gave her a triumphant smile. 'Oh yes! Her body might be gone, but her soul lives on in the core, with her friends, Proper Dave, Other Dave, Miss Evangelista, and Anita.'

'Is it all right for us to leave now?' she asked quietly, she'd had enough of the biggest library in the galaxy for one day . . . no, for a lifetime.

'Yeah, time to move on,' he said as he started up the Time Rotor and put them into the Vortex. He thought about his last conversation with River. 'Before we go to Brazil, how do you fancy going to Darillium to see the Singing Towers? I hear it's very nice there.'

* * *

'Now, I feel like bein' pampered,' Rose told the Doctor as they closed the doors on the view of Ipanema beach. 'So why don't you take your pregnant wife somewhere where she can be pampered to within an inch of her life?'

He grinned at her. 'Right then, my pregnant wife, why don't you go and get changed into something suitable for a weekend at a health spa, and I'll go and set the coordinates.'

The TARDIS landed in a service area of the spa, and they stepped out into a curved, concrete corridor. The Doctor was wearing his usual brown, pinstriped suit, while Rose wore a flowery summer dress with white jacket and sandals.

'Oh very chic,' Rose said sarcastically, looking at the utility corridor with pipes and cables running along the walls.

'Hey, every high class establishment has to have services,' the Doctor told her. 'Come on, through here.' He pushed through a fire door and they entered a plush, reception area with comfy leather sofas, low tables, potted plants, fountains, and pleasant xylophone muzak playing in the background.

'Now, this is more like it,' she said with a beaming smile, looking up at the domed, glass ceiling, constructed from triangular panels. Outside, she could see diamond cliffs, reaching into the black sky, and reflecting the X-tonic sunlight.

They walked up to the reception desk, and the Doctor took out his psychic paper. 'Doctor John Smith, and Mrs Rose Smith, competition winners for a day at the spa,' he said to the young lady at the reception.

She looked at the paper, and saw a complimentary, all inclusive day pass. 'Bad Wolf Entertainment Corporation, I don't think we've had that one before,' she said.

'Eh?' they said, frowning at the paper, to see where Bad Wolf had come from. It must have leaked through from his subconscious.

The receptionist smiled, and handed over two complimentary passes, and two glossy brochures. 'There we are Sir . . . Madam, on behalf of Leisure Palace Company; we hope you have a nice day.'

'Ooh, this is dead posh,' Rose said.

A man in a waistcoat and bowtie, walked towards them with a tray of drinks. 'Would Sir or Madam, like a complimentary glass of Champagne?'

'Ooh yeah,' she said, taking a glass and having a sip and then realising in horror what she'd done. 'Oh, I can't now, can I?' She put the glass down on a low table.

'One sip won't hurt. Let's have a seat over there, and we can have a look at these brochures.' They walked over to one of the domed walls, and plopped themselves down on a sofa, which hugged and caressed them with their luxuriant fabric.

After a few minutes of perusing the pages, Rose had decided on an order of events. 'Right then, sauna first, followed by a massage, then a dip in the Jacuzzi . . . What about you?'

'Well, there's the crystalarium, with the finest example of single grain crystals in the galaxy, Then a demonstration of X-tonic radiation on complex molecular structures . . . oh, and look, a trip to see the Sapphire Waterfalls,' he said enthusiastically. 'Do you fancy that?'

She looked at him as though he had dribbled down his brown, pinstriped suit. 'Let me think . . . No. I'll stick with bein' pampered thanks.'

He was momentarily disappointed by her refusal, but then his enthusiasm returned for the crystalarium and X-tonic demonstration.

He finished his Champagne, and stood up. 'Okay then, enjoy your pampering, and we'll meet up later,' he said, leaning forwards and kissing her.

'See ya later, and try not to get arrested or anythin', I want a nice relaxin' day,' she said with a lopsided smile.

He gave her a grin, and a wink, then set off to find the crystalarium.

Rose was on a sun lounger by a pool, a glass of fruit juice on the table beside her. The poolside was all purple walls and marble columns, and very much in the style to which she could easily become accustomed. A waistcoated, bowtie wearing attendant approached her with a purple, cordless phone on a silver tray.

She knew who it was, and what he wanted. 'I-said-no,' Rose told him, deliberately emphasising each word.

He was on a public phone in the departure lounge of the Crusader Tours garage. Through the glass frontage, he could see the track laying "shuttle" that looked like the fuselage of a small jet aircraft. Passengers were walking past, and entering the arched access tunnel to board the vehicle.

'Sapphire waterfall . . . It's a waterfall made of sapphires. This enormous jewel, the size of a glacier reaches the Cliffs of Oblivion, and then shatters into sapphires at the edge. They fall a hundred thousand feet into a crystal ravine.'

'I bet you say that to all the girls.'

'Oh, come on. They're boarding now. It's no fun if I see it on me own. Four hours, that's all it takes.'

'No, that's four hours there and four hours back. That's like a school trip, I'd rather go sunbathin'.'

'You be careful, that's X-tonic sunlight.'

'Oh, I'm safe. It says in the brochure this glass is fifteen feet thick.'

'All right, I give up; I'll be back for dinner. We'll try that anti-gravity restaurant . . . With bibs.'

'That's a date.'

'See you later.'

'Oi, and you be careful, all right?'

'Nah. Taking a big space truck with a bunch of strangers across a diamond planet called Midnight? What could possibly go wrong?' he said before hanging up the phone.

An hour later, Rose was lying face down on a comfortable couch, as expert hands rubbed the tension out of her back and shoulders. A contented sigh escaped from her lips as she hovered at the edge of consciousness.

['What did you see?'] She thought she heard the Doctor ask excitedly. She was obviously daydreaming in her relaxed state.

She thought she heard his voice again. ['What sort of shadow?']

She lazily looked over her shoulder at the masseur. 'Eh?'

'Excuse me madam?' the woman said.

'Oh, sorry, I thought you said somethin'.'

['Where? What was it?']

'Doctor?' she asked sleepily. 'Where was what?'

['Running which way?'] She felt his excitement had turned to concern.

She was brought out of her dream state by the masseur telling her that she had been fully massaged. She grabbed the towel that was resting over her bum, and pulled it up around her body to secure it over her boobs with a tuck.

'Thank you,' she said to the green skinned lady. 'That was very relaxin'. You're very good.'

'Thank you Madam. Just be careful, you may be a little dizzy from all the endorphins that have been released in your brain. The Jacuzzi is just down the hallway.'

'Thank you.' Rose went to the changing cubicle, and put on her red, "Bay Watch" swimsuit. She slipped the fluffy bathrobe over her shoulders, and headed down the hallway to the Jacuzzi.

In the Jacuzzi complex, Rose lowered herself into the bubbling water of one of the pools, exchanging greetings with the other people in there with her; a Vinvocci couple, and a handsome Catkind man. They had a little chat, and then settled down to relax and enjoy the therapeutic water jets.

After a while of relaxing and floating in the pool, Rose suddenly sat upright. ['Just stop it, all of you. Stop it, please. Now then, Sky. Are you Sky? Is Sky still in there? Mrs Silvestry? You know exactly what I'm going to say. How are you doing that? Roast beef. Bananas. The Medusa Cascade. Bang! Rose Lungbarrowmas, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, Tardis. Shamble bobble dibble dooble. Oh, Doctor, you're so handsome. Yes, I am, thank you. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O. First she repeats, then she catches up. What's the next stage?'] She put her hands to her temples and gasped.

'Are you all right?' the female Venvocci asked her, leaning forward and gently squeezing her arm.

'Er, yeah. Sorry, yeah, I'm fine,' Rose said trying to make sense of the voices in her head. She could hear the Doctor, but there was someone else in there as well, and it felt like they were trying to take over. She could feel apprehension and concern in the Doctor.

['I don't know. Sky, stop it. I said stop it. Just stop it,'] she heard the Doctor saying. ['Mrs Silvestry, I'm trying to understand. You've captured my speech. What for? What do you need? You need my voice in particular. The cleverest voice in the room. Why? Because I'm the only one who can help? Oh, I'd love that to be true, but your eyes, they're saying something else. Listen to me. Whatever you want, if it's life, or form, or consciousness, or voice, you don't have to steal it. You can find it without hurting anyone. And I'll help you. That's a promise. So, what do you think? Do we have a deal?']

'Doctor, what's going on?'

'There isn't a doctor here,' the female Venvocci informed her.

'Eh?' Rose was still listening to her husband in her head.

['Oh, look at that. I'm ahead of you. I think it's moved. I think it's letting me go.'] Rose felt more and more worried as the conversation seemed to go out of the Doctor's control.

['Yes. Yes, it's me. Listen. It's me. Look at me, I can move, I can feel again, I'm coming back to life. And look at him. He can't move. Help me.']

Rose was reminded of the time she was taken over by Cassandra on New Earth. Something was invading the Doctor's mind and trying to deceive the other passengers.

['Oh, it was so cold, I couldn't breathe. I'm sorry, I must have scared you so much.']

Rose realised what was happening. The Doctor was being forced to repeat the words of another passenger. Sky Silvestry had been possessed by an alien entity and was making it look like it was the Doctor who was possessed.

['It's inside his head. It killed the driver and the mechanic. And now it wants us. He's waited so long, in the dark and the cold, and the diamonds. Until you came, bodies so hot with blood and pain.']

Oh God! The alien meant to kill him so that it could hide amongst the passengers. ['DOCTOR!'] Rose shouted out loud, and unbeknown to her, with her mind.

['Rose?'] the Doctor thought. ['Rose! Help me. Something's in my head and it wants to destroy me.']

['I know, but what do I do?']

['That's how he does it. He makes you fight. Creeps into your head and whispers. Listen, just listen. That's him inside . . . Yes, throw him out. Get rid of him. Now.']

['NO!'] Rose yelled as her mind filled with a blazing golden light. When her vision returned, she was lying on the floor of what looked like an aircraft cabin. She was wearing a brown pinstriped suit with white converse. And there was something else, there was an evil malevolence laughing at her inside his head.

['Rose? What are you doing inside my head?']

['Tryin' to help ya.']

Someone was trying to drag the Doctor across the floor and he was powerless to stop them.

['No, I mean you're not telepathic, so HOW are you in my head?']

['No idea. Thought it was you doin' it. Hang on, a bit busy here,'] she thought. ['Bein' on the outside, I think I can move a bit of your body.']

Rose hooked his foot around the leg of one of the seats to stop them.

'Throw him out,' one of the female passengers said vehemently.

['I'll throw her out in a minute,'] Rose thought.

['She's terrified, and rightly so,'] the Doctor thought back.

'Molto bene,' the Doctor was forced to say.

'Get him out,' the woman demanded.

'Allons-y,' Sky said.

'Allons-y,' the Doctor echoed.

The attendant had heard the Doctor use those phrases, and started to get suspicious. 'That's his voice.'

['Ah-ha!'] the Doctor thought triumphantly. ['It worked. I put those phrases to the front of my mind and bombarded the intruder with them in the hope that someone would spot them.']

['Oh you are brilliant.']

'The starlight waits,' Sky said.

['Well, if I can't use my body to fight back, I'll use my mind.']

The attendant realized what was happening. 'She's taken his voice.'

['Ooh, she's good,'] Rose told him.

'The starlight waits,' the Doctor repeated.

'The emptiness.'

'The emptiness.'

'Get him out,' the woman urged.

'The Midnight sky.'

'The Midnight sky.'

'It's her,' the attendant told them.

'Throw him out ' the woman insisted.

['I so want to give her a slap!']

'She's taken his voice!' the attendant tried to explain.

The attendant grabbed Sky and rushed her towards the hatch. She pressed the button and everyone screamed as the bright light flooded in.

['What's happenin'?] Rose asked. ['I can't see behind you.']

['I've got a horrible feeling that the attendant is doing something incredibly brave and remarkably selfless.']

They heard attendant start to count. 'One, two, three, four, five, six.'

The pressure wall collapsed, and the attendant was sucked out along with Sky. The hatch closed, and the men dropped the Doctor on to the deck.

The Doctor lay on the floor. 'It's gone. It's gone. It's gone, it's gone, it's gone, it's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone, it's gone, it's gone. It's gone, it's gone, it's gone,' he chanted.

I said it was her,' the woman that Rose wanted to slap said quietly.

* * *

Rose could feel someone holding her hand and taking her pulse at the same time. Something making a warbling sound was attached to her forehead.

'Doctor?' she whispered as her eyes fluttered open.

'No Ma'am, I'm just a first aider,' a young man in a waistcoat and bowtie told her.

'Oh hello,' she said flirtatiously. She realised that she was no longer in the Jacuzzi, but was lying on a sun lounger. 'What's goin' on?'

'Oh my dear, you had some kind of seizure,' the Venvocci lady told her. 'This kind man lifted you out of the pool and carried you over here.'

Rose looked to the other side, and saw the Catkind man standing in his swimming trunks. Under his fur, Rose could make out a full six pack and rippling biceps. 'I'm sorry I missed that,' she said saucily. 'Thank you very much.'

'You are welcome,' he purred. Wow! What a tomcat he was.

'Well, everything seems to be all right now,' the first aider told her. 'I'd advise you to get a full check up when you get home.'

'I'm married to a doctor, that won't be a problem. Talking of which, is there any word from the damaged shuttle?'

The young man's eyes went wide. 'How could you possibly know about that?' Rose just gave him an intense look. 'Er, the Reception Desk will have all the details.'

Rose put on her bathrobe and made her way to the Reception Area. 'Well, are they all right?' Rose asked the receptionist.

'I'm sure everything is fine Madam. The information we have is that the pilot logged a call that the engine had failed, and they needed a tow back to base.'

'You might be sure everythin' is fine young lady, but you don't know my husband. Where can I get more information?' Rose said.

'Updates will be displayed on the information boards over there,' the receptionist said, pointing to a huge, multimedia screen on the wall to the side of the reception desk. 'Please have a seat; I will get one of the attendants to get you a drink?'

Hours later, the information board said that the Crusader Fifty rescue vehicle had docked at the arrivals lounge, and the survivors had disembarked. A weary looking Doctor walked into the pool area and saw Rose. She walked up to him and gave him a hug, which he returned so strongly that she knew whatever had been inside his head had scared him.

They sat at one of the tables. 'What do you think it was?' she asked.

'No idea,' he said with a distant look in his eyes.

'Do you think it's still out there?' He didn't reply, what ever it was had nearly had him killed, and that was worrying. 'Well, you'd better tell them . . . this lot.'

'Yeah, they can build a Leisure Palace somewhere else . . . Let this planet keep on turning round an X-tonic star, in silence.'

'Can't imagine you without a voice,' she said quietly.

He attempted a smile, but it came out lopsided. 'Molto bene.'

'Molto bene,' she echoed.

'No, don't do that . . . Don't . . . don't.'


	13. Turn Away

**Authors note: This chapter refers to events in the novel "The Nightmare of Black Island" by Mike Tucker, and "The Feast of the Drowned" by Stephen Cole.  
**

 **Chapter 13**

 **Turn Away**

 **The South Bank of the Thames.**

 **London.**

 **Saturday, 5th March 2005.**

The TARDIS materialised on a walkway near the National Theatre, by a row of shuttered kiosks and a terrified Mickey ran out. Rose followed him out and went over to him as he tried to hide behind a pallet. The Doctor stayed in the doorway of the TARDIS.

'A fat lot of good you were,' she said to Mickey, as she stooped down to try and help him up. He was pointing at the Doctor standing in the doorway of the TARDIS.

'Nestene Consciousness?' the Doctor said, clicking his fingers. 'Easy.'

'You were useless in there. You'd be dead if it wasn't for me,' she reminded him.

'Yes, I would,' he said sheepishly. 'Thank you. Right then, I'll be off . . . unless, er, I don't know . . . you could come with me,' he said hesitantly. 'This box isn't just a London hopper, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe free of charge.'

'Don't,' Mickey warned her. 'He's an alien . . . He's a thing.'

'He's not invited. What do you think?' Rose was speechless. She was just a shop girl from the Powell Estate. Girls like her didn't go zooming around the universe.

'You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go anywhere.'

'Is it always this dangerous?'

He smiled at her. 'Yeah.'

Mickey grabbed her around the waist, afraid that she might take the alien up on his mad offer. 'Yeah, I can't. I've er, I've got to go and find my mum and someone's got to look after this stupid lump, so . . .'

'Okay,' he said disappointedly. 'See you around.'

They stood there, looking at each other for a long time before he reluctantly stepped backwards into the TARDIS and closed the door. The engines started up, and the TARDIS dematerialised.

'Come on, let's go,' she said quietly, helping her boyfriend to his feet. 'Come on. Come on.'

They slowly walked away, when they heard the unmistakable sound of time and space being twisted out of shape. The quirky blue box appeared where it had been moments before. The door opened, and the Doctor stood there with a smirk on his face.

'By the way, did I mention it also travels in time,' he said with a grin.

* * *

'So, how did I do it then?' Rose asked her husband, as she lay on her back in bed. The Doctor was lying on top of her, supporting his weight on his elbows, and looking into her gorgeous hazel eyes.

'Well, I've had my suspicions for a while now that something has been brewing in that gorgeous head of yours.'

She lifted her head off the pillow and kissed him on the lips. 'Mmmm, thank you.'

'My pleasure. Now do you remember the lighthouse on Black Island in Wales, when the Cynrog were using a psychic transceiver to resurrect the Cynrog warlord, Lord Balor?'

'Oh yeah. It worked on the same frequency as the TARDIS translator, and you talked to me in my mind while I was in Bronwyn's house.'

'That's right. Now, we are both closely tuned to the TARDIS, we are intimately tuned to each other,' he said with a waggle of his eyebrows, and a gentle rub of his body against hers.

'Ooh, you can say that again,' she said as she reached down and fondled his bum.

'And, I gave you the key to my mind when we got married and I told you my name.'

She lifted her head again and kissed his lips. 'And you think I used the key to let myself in?'

'I couldn't have put it better myself,' he said, leaning forward and returning the kiss. 'Why don't you try it?'

'But how? I mean, it just sort of happened.'

''Yeah, I know. It's like that for telepathic children at first, random thoughts and images that come and go. But they learn to focus and control it. Think back and try and remember what your state of mind was when you heard me in your head.'

Rose rested her head on the pillow and thought about it. 'I was relaxed, between bein' asleep and awake.'

'Right. Alpha waves in your brain and endorphins. Try to imagine the feeling and reproduce it.'

She gave him her tongue between the teeth smile. 'Ooh, that's easy. I just have to imagine makin' love to ya.' She closed her eyes and moved sensually under him.

['H*w *re y** doing? An**hing y*t?'] It was like listening to a radio that was just off station.

She squealed with laughter. 'Oh my God! I heard somethin'. I could hear somethin' in my head.'

He gave her a big grin. 'Okay, that's good. Now relax, focus, and try and talk to me.'

He watched as she closed her eyes again, and her face went serene. God, he loved this woman. What he got then, was impressions of images of what she would love to do to his body.

['. . . Love to ru* my *ingers through your hair,'] he heard in his head.

['And I l*ve it w*en you do,']

'Wha? You heard me?'

'Well enough to understand what you meant, yeah. Here see if you can get the meaning of this,' he said with a wicked smile. He sent her the images of what he would like to do to her under the duvet.

Rose gasped with surprise. Not only could she see what he was imagining, she could feel the emotions as well. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into a passionate kiss, and wrapped her legs around his thighs.

'Why didn't you say so?' his seriously horny wife purred as she pulled the duvet over them.

* * *

'Shan Shen is a planet inhabited by humans and humanoid species with a Chinese culture,' the Doctor told Rose as they stepped out of the TARDIS into a market street filled with flags, paper lanterns, pagodas and various crowded stalls. The sound of traditional Chinese folk music floated down the street, giving a magical ATMOSphere to the neighbourhood.

Rose looked up, and saw flying cars buzzing overhead, and beyond that, she could see several moons or planets, pale in the daytime sky, one of which had a ring system. They wandered in between the various stalls, the Doctor inspecting the contents of a wok, where some exotic, fragrant food was being prepared.

The Doctor found what he was looking for on one stall, and handed Rose a mug of foaming drink.

'Oh, ho, ho,' he chuckled as he looked at the frothy milk shake.

'I'd rather have a water,' she said, looking at the mug suspiciously.

'You are going to love it,' he said light-heartedly. 'One, two, three!'

They took a mouthful, and Rose squealed with delight. 'Lovely!' she said with a frothy moustache that he'd warned her about.

When they'd finished their drinks, they carried on through the market, looking at the bewildering array of fruits and vegetables on sale.

Rose had gotten ahead of the Doctor. 'You want to buy shukina? Or peshmoni? Most beautiful peshmoni in all of Shan Shen?' a young oriental girl asked her.

'Er, no thanks.' She looked back down the street, and saw the Doctor enjoying himself talking to a trader about a prickly looking vegetable.

She turned back down the street and carried on exploring, enjoying the sights, the sounds, and the beautiful alien odours of fruits, flowers, and incense.

'Tell your fortune, lady. The future predicted. Your life foretold,' a tanned Asian woman called her.

Rose turned to look at her. 'Oh, no thanks.'

The woman frowned. 'Don't you want to know if you're going to be happy?'

'I'm happy right now, thanks,' Rose said with a smile. She really was. She'd got her husband, she'd got a baby on the way, she'd got a lifestyle she loved, and this place was amazing.

'You got blonde hair . . . the readings free for blonde hair,' the woman said, indicating an open doorway, framed with dangling jade beads and red paper lanterns.

Rose laughed. 'All right, then.'

Rose went into the fortune teller's hut and sat in a chair opposite her. The young woman took Rose's hands and looked at her palms.

'Oh, you fascinating. No, but you good. I can see a man. The most remarkable man. How did you meet him?'

'You're supposed to tell me,' Rose said sarcastically.

'I see the future. Tell me the past. When did your lives cross?'

'It's sort of complicated,' she said, looking off into the distance. 'I was in the basement of a department store, and I was surrounded by these alien things. He grabbed my hand and said "run".'

'But what made you go with him to the stars?'

'Well, I didn't at first. I mean, I'd got my mum and Mickey, my boyfriend . . .' Rose had an intense flashback that made her sway. 'Oh. Sorry.'

The fortune teller smiled. 'It's the incense. Just breathe deep. He came back and asked you again. What made you say yes then?'

'He said, "by the way, did I mention it also travels in time", and I thought that I could travel the universe and still be back before anyone knew I'd been away.

'Your life could have gone one way or the other. What made you decide?'

'I just did.'

Rose didn't notice that something small was sneaking up behind her. 'But when was the moment? When did you choose?'

Rose thought back to that night. She had stood there, looking at the Doctor for a long time before he reluctantly stepped backwards into the TARDIS and closed the door. The engines started up, and the TARDIS dematerialised.

'Come on, let's go,' she had said quietly, helping Mickey to his feet. 'Come on. Come on.'

They had slowly walked away, when they heard the unmistakable sound of time and space being twisted out of shape. The quirky blue box appeared where it had been moments before. The door opened, and the Doctor stood there with a smirk on his face.

'By the way, did I mention it also travels in time,' he had said with a grin.

'You turned back towards him. What if you had turned away? What then?' the fortune teller asked.

Rose was becoming troubled by her questioning. 'Let go of my hands.'

'What if it changes? What if you turn away? What if you could still turn away?'

'Stop it,' Rose said, when suddenly, something jumped onto her back. 'What's that? What's on my back? What is it? What, what's on my back?'

'Make the choice again, Rose Tyler, and change your mind. Turn away, turn your back on the TARDIS.'

A hooked claw reached to Rose's shoulder. 'I'm turning.'

'Turn away. Turn your back. Turn away!'

'By the way, did I mention it also travels in time.' The Doctor stepped backwards into the TARDIS, waiting for her to make her mind up.

Mickey grabbed her arm. 'Rose, don't. Remember how it turned out with Jimmy Stone? Please. You'll get your heart broken all over again, only this time . . . I won't be there for ya to pick up the pieces.'

When she had run off with Jimmy Stone, she and Mickey hadn't really been a proper couple. They were just mates that had known each other from school. Friends that went out to the pub, the clubs and the cinema together. When Jimmy dumped her, Mickey had been there for her, a shoulder to cry on. Their romance had blossomed, and they had become lovers. At least that was one thing she could thank Jimmy for.

She kissed him on his cheek. 'Thanks.'

'What for?'

'For keepin' my feet on the ground. I don't deserve you.' She called out to the Doctor. 'I'm sorry Doctor, but I've got a life here. It might be all work and food and sleep . . . Well, not work, 'cos ya blew that up, but I've got Mickey and I've got my mum, and they need me, and I need them. Sorry.'

The Doctor appeared at the door. He sighed, put his hands in his pockets and attempted a smile. 'Hey, don't apologise for having an ordinary life. An ordinary life is the most fantastic adventure you can have. It's the one adventure I'll never have . . . So, I'll see you around, yeah.'

'Yeah, see ya,' Rose said, and held Mickey's hand as the TARDIS door closed, and it disappeared from their lives.

* * *

Rose had been at Mickey's flat, when they heard what sounded like an aircraft pass low overhead. They had rushed out onto the balcony, to see an alien spaceship heading towards the centre of London. Rose had run back inside to put the television on, where they watched the report of a UFO taking out Big Ben, before crashing into the Thames.

Later that day, her mobile phone rang and the caller display said TARDIS. 'Hello?' she asked hesitantly.

'Hello,' a northern voice said. 'Rose?'

'Yeah. Is that you?'

'Er, yeah. Sorry to disturb you, but I need a favour and I didn't know who else to call.'

'No, er no, that's okay. What can I do for ya?'

'Is Mickey there?' he asked sheepishly.

'Mickey? Yeah, he's here.'

'Who is it?' Mickey whispered.

'It's the Doctor.'

'Him! What does he want?' The Doctor had not been complimentary about him the last time they had met. He took Rose's phone off her. 'What do you want.'

'Look, Ricky. It pains me to say this . . . but I need your help.'

'Oh, there's a turn up. You need my help. An' it's Mickey.'

'Okay, have it your way. Mickey, I need you to log on to your computer.'

'Okay, hold on. I'll just boot it up.' He handed the phone back to Rose while he started up the computer.

'So, how have ya been?' she asked him, trying to make conversation.

'Oh, y'know. Not so bad. Travelling around, saving this and that.'

'Hang on, is this about that ship that crashed in the Thames? Is that what you're doin' now, savin' us from an alien invasion?'

'Yeah, sort of. It's a hobby of mine.' He hesitated. 'What about you, have you been all right?'

'Yeah, I'm good thanks. Got a job as a dinner lady at the school. Not great, but it helps mum pay the bills.'

Mickey took back the phone. 'Right I'm on. What do you need?'

The Doctor got Mickey to log onto the Unified Intelligence Taskforce website and accessed a signal being transmitted from a spaceship hidden in the North sea. While he was doing that, Rose saw the acting Prime Minister making an announcement that the planet Earth was at war, and he needed the release codes for a nuclear strike.

The Doctor told them he was making it up, and got Mickey to hack into the Royal Navy server, and launch a Sub Harpoon, UGM-A4A missile from a Trafalgar class submarine, and aim it at 10 Downing Street.

Mickey and Rose had stood outside his flat and watched the missile fly by at low level, followed a few minutes later by a small mushroom cloud that rose into the sky above Downing Street. The telephone call disconnected, and they didn't know if the Doctor had survived or not. Rose suspected he had survived, when later in the year, there was an incident in Cardiff of all places, with reports of an earthquake and weird lightning in the sky.

* * *

 **48 Bucknall House.**

 **Powell Estate.**

 **London.**

 **Midnight. 25th December, 2006.**

'Merry Christmas,' Mickey said to Rose, giving her a kiss as she sat on his lap on the sofa.

'Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas Mum,' Rose said.

'Yeah, merry Christmas you two,' she replied, as they watched the 12 o'clock news.

['Scientists in charge of Britain's mission to Mars have re-established contact with the Guinevere One space probe. They're expecting the first transmission from the planet's surface in the next few minutes,'] the news reader announced.

The mission leader, Professor Llewellyn was speaking at a press conference. ['Yes, we are. We're, we're back on schedule. We've received the signal from Guinevere One. The Mars landing would seem to be an unqualified success.']

['But is it true that you completely lost contact earlier tonight?'] the reporter asked him.

['Yes, we had a bit of a scare. Guinevere seemed to fall off the scope, but it, it was just a blip. Only disappeared for a few seconds. She is fine now, absolutely fine. We're getting the first pictures transmitted live any minute now. I'd better get back to it, thanks.']

The news channel started showing live pictures from the Mars probe. 'Funny sort of rocks,' Jackie said.

['The first photographs . . .']

'That's not rocks,' Rose said.

['This image is being transmitted via mission control, coming live from the depths of space on Christmas morning.'] A red-eyed ugly alien with a head like a goat's skull was on the television, and it was growling and gurgling at them.

Christmas day went downhill from then on, with a large, rocky, alien spaceship hovering over London, and thousands of people in some sort of trance, standing on rooftops. It wasn't until a beam of green energy suddenly blew the alien ship to dust, that things returned to normal.

As usual with these kind of unusual events, there was misinformation, conspiracy theories and claims of hoax, and the whole event joined the Tunguska blast and the Roswell incident as one of those unexplained occurrences.

* * *

 **The Red Lion Public House.**

 **The East End.**

 **London.**

 **21:15. 24th December, 2007.**

Mickey was carrying a tray of drinks over to the table where Rose and their friends were sitting. 'Come on, then, get out the way. Get out the way! Here we are. Feed at the trough.'

'Stevo says let's go to the Boardwalk. It's two for the price of one,' Shareen said.

'Christmas Eve? It'll be heavin',' Rose told her.

'Well, exactly, Get in and grab them,' Stevo said with a grin.

'Hey, that's the second round of drinks you've bought. It was my turn,' John told Mickey.

'I can afford it,' Mickey said, puffing his chest out like a peacock. 'Promotion. You are talking to Clancy's Garage Head Mechanic, I'll have you know. Capital H, capital M, twenty thousand pound per annum, thank you very much'.

'Here's to Mister Clancy,' Shareen said, holding up her glass in a toast.

'Mister Clancy!' they all replied.

'He gets all the luck,' Stevo said.

Rose noticed that Keisha was staring at her. 'What's wrong? What is it?'

'Sorry?' Keisha said.

'Did someone spill a drink on me?' Rose asked, looking over her shoulder.

'Why?'

'Why do you keep lookin' at my shoulder? What's wrong?'

Keisha couldn't explain it. It was like when you saw something out of the corner of your eye, but when you looked at it, it wasn't there. 'I don't know.'

'Oh, don't tell me you're gettin' all spooky again. It was bad enough when we saw the ghost of your brother, except he wasn't dead. What are you lookin' at? What is it?'

'It's like, it's like there's somethin' I can't see.'

The door of the pub suddenly burst open, and a man rushed in all excited. 'Come on, shut up, all of you. Come and see. Just look at the sky! It's a star! It's a Christmas star!'

'Well, come on then,' Shareen said, getting to her feet.

The group of friends filed out of the pub, and looked up to the sky to see a huge star like object floating across the sky.

'What the hell is that?' Stevo asked.

Shareen tutted in disgust. 'Ken Livingstone, that's what! Spendin' our money on decorations! I mean, how much did that cost?'

'Don't be so stupid,' Stevo told her. 'It's flying! It's really flying!'

They followed the crowds around the corner to watch it go. 'That's not a star. That's a web. It's headin' east. Middle of the City,' Rose said.

Energy lanced from the web star and everyone started screaming. Rose noticed Keisha looking at her back again. 'Keisha! There's a great big web star thing shootin' at people, and you're lookin' at me?'

'There is something on your back,' Keisha told her fearfully, before starting to run away with the crowd.

Rose decided she was going to see what was going on and started to walk east, towards the star. In the confusion, Mickey lost site of Rose. 'Hey. Has anyone seen Rose?' he asked the group that were being swept along by the panicking crowd, but since the star had started firing, no one had seen where she had gone.

Rose arrived at a barricade, as the army started firing at the star.

'Everyone, stay back,' a soldier ordered. 'The Thames has been closed. Return to your homes. Keep away from the river, and that's an order.'

Rose quietly sneaked around the back to the Army trucks, and overheard an officer on his radio. ['Trap One to Greyhound Fifteen. What is your report? Over.']

'From the evidence, I'd say he managed to stop the creature. Some sort of red spider. Blew up the base underneath the barrier, flooded the whole thing. Over.'

['And where is he now? Over.']

'We found a body, sir. Over.'

Rose watched as paramedics wheeled a body on a stretcher which was covered in a red blanket, towards a waiting ambulance.

['Is it him? Over.']

'I think so. He just didn't make it out in time.'

As the stretcher was lifted onto the ambulance, Rose saw an arm drop from under the blanket and a sonic screwdriver fell from the lifeless hand onto the ground. Rose gasped, and tears started to sting her eyes.

'The Doctor is dead.' the army officer reported. 'Must have happened too fast for him to regenerate.' He turned to two soldiers. 'Escort the ambulance back to UNIT base.'

Rose walked away, tears rolling down her cheeks. Mickey came running up to her. 'Rose, I've found you at last!' he said, enveloping her in a hug. She was too upset to notice that he was wearing a different coat.

'Oh, yeah. Sorry for wanderin' off and leavin' ya at the pub. I just thought that this would be somethin' the Doctor would be involved in and that . . .' She started to cry. 'He might need some help.'

'What happened? What did they find? Rose, did they find someone?'

'Mickey . . . It was the Doctor! I saw his body on the stretcher. The soldier said he didn't get out in time. He's dead.'

'I came so far,' Mickey said distractedly.

Rose was a bit puzzled by what he'd just said. 'What you on about?' Now she looked at him under the street light, she could see that he looked somehow more rugged, more mature than he'd looked in the pub.

'Oh, sorry. Nothin',' he said, trying to see what was on her back.

'Why do you keep lookin' at my back?'

'I'm not,' he said, quickly looking away and making it obvious that he was.

'Yes, you are. You keep lookin' behind me. You're doin' it now. What is it? What's there? Did somebody put somethin' on my back?' She tried to look at her own back, and didn't see Mickey disappear.

* * *

 **48 Bucknall House.**

 **Powell Estate.**

 **London.**

 **18:00. 29th March, 2007.**

While the evening meal was simmering on the stove, Jackie joined Rose and Mickey in the living room to see the news headlines on NEWS 24 ['To confirm, the Royal Hope hospital was returned to it's original position, but with only one survivor. The only person left alive is medical student Oliver Morgenstern.']

The scene cut to an interview with a young man in a white coat. ['And there were these creatures, like rhinos. Talking rhinos, in, in, in black leather.']

'Rhinos?' Rose asked.

'Rhinos could be aliens,' Mickey said.

'Shush,' Jackie said.

['There were hundreds of them. We couldn't breathe. We were running out of air. A colleague of mine gave me the last oxygen tank. Martha. Martha Jones. And she died.']

'Why take them all the way to the moon to suffocate them and then bring 'em all back?' Rose asked. 'It don't make sense.'

The newsreader updated the story. ['This further report just in from Oliver Morgenstern.']

['There was this woman who took control. Said she knew what to do, said she could stop the MRI or something. Sarah Jane, her name was. Sarah Jane Smith.']

The newsreader gave the background to this new information. ['Sarah Jane Smith was a freelance investigative journalist, formerly of Metropolitan Magazine. Her body was recovered from the hospital late this afternoon. Miss Smith had a son called Luke, but early reports that Luke also had been inside the Royal Hope, along with his teenage friends Maria Jackson and Clyde Langer. It is feared that they also perished.']

'Oh that's awful,' Jackie said. 'All those people and those kids. It's terrible.'

* * *

 **Bucknall House Courtyard.**

 **Powell Estate.**

 **London.**

 **19:00. 5th September, 2007.**

Rose was walking slowly across the courtyard towards Bucknall House. Mickey had gone to watch the football down the pub with John and Stevo from the garage. She wasn't keen on the football, and had decided to have a night in with her mum.

There was a flash of light from between the flats which made her jump, and someone came running out. 'Blimey! Are you all right?' she asked, and then realised who it was. 'Mickey? What you doin' here? What was that, fireworks or . . .'

'I don't know Babe. I was just walking along. That's weird . . . I was just . . . gonna get my wallet. I left it in the flat.'

'Forget yer head if it wasn't screwed on, wouldn't ya,' she said, kissing him on the cheek. 'Is that a new jacket? It suits ya.'

'Eh? Oh yeah. Picked it up on the market. Hey, I was thinkin' about Christmas earlier. What we gonna do this year. I mean last year was a disaster . . . literally.'

'Christmas? That's ages away.'

'I know, but if we start savin', we might be able to go away for Christmas.'

'Nah, we could never afford that. Hotels always put their prices up for Christmas.'

'Well, the school where you work always do a raffle, and the first prize is a Christmas break at a posh hotel. Maybe you should buy a ticket.'

'Yeah, maybe. It's the only way we'll be able to afford it.' She saw him looking over her shoulder. 'You're doin' it again,' she said sharply. She was getting fed up of people looking at her back.

'What?' he said innocently.

'Lookin' behind me. People keep on doin' that, lookin' at my back.'

'What sort of people?'

'People in the street. Strangers. I just catch them sometimes, starin' at me. Like they're lookin' at somethin'. And then I get home, and I look, and there's nothin' there. See? Look, now I'm doin' it!'

'I always preferred lookin' at your front,' he said with a smirk.

She playfully slapped his arm. 'Shut up! You'd better hurry up or you'll miss the match.' She kissed him on the cheek. 'An' if you behave yerself, I might show you me front when you get back.'

Mickey had a sad, slightly embarrassed expression on his face as Rose went through the security door of Bucknall House. He turned away and disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

 **Firbourne House Hotel.**

 **24th December, 2008.**

Noddy Holder was screaming out his Christmas song as Mickey drove along the drive up to the converted country house. 'Blimey, that's what I call posh. I said you were lucky, didn't I?' he said to Rose beside him. 'I always said, my lucky girl.'

'Yeah, top prize in the raffle at the school Christmas Fair. A weekend break at a posh hotel. How jammy is that.'

'Well, I reckon we deserve this after what happened last Christmas,' Jackie said as the car pulled up outside the hotel. She climbed out of the back of the Mini and looked up at the country house. 'It reminds me of our honeymoon. Yer dad took me to a gaff like this. It was dead romantic.'

The next morning, there was a knock on the door. Rose called to Mickey from the bathroom where she was putting her makeup on. 'Oi, Mickey, get that. That'll be breakfast. We've got croissants.'

'Why can't Jackie get it?' he replied, from the bed he'd shared with Rose.

'It's Christmas Day,' Jackie told him from the other bedroom, where she was tucking into a box of chocolates. 'I never get up before ten. Only madam there was up with the dawn chorus, like when she was six years old.'

'I'm not wastin' a second in this place,' she told her mum.

'Oi!' Mickey shouted. 'Merry Christmas.'

Rose finished putting on her lippy. 'Merry Christmas.'

'Merry Christmas, you pair,' Jackie called from her bedroom.

There was another knock at the door. 'Yeah, all right. Come on in,' Mickey said as he opened the door. The maid carried in a silver tray loaded with breakfast things. 'Grub's up. Merry Christmas!'

'Merry Christmas, sir!' the maid said with a smile. putting the tray on an occasional table. Her smile vanished when she looked into the bathroom and saw Rose.

Jackie had been watching Christmas morning television, when a newsflash came on. ['We have interrupted your programme to bring you breaking news.']

'Have you seen this?' Jackie asked from her bedroom.

['We will now return to the BBC news studio . . .']

Rose hadn't heard her mum, and continued to explain why she was up early. 'Because I thought, nice early breakfast and then we'll go for a walk. People always say that at Christmas. Oh, we all went for a walk. I've always wanted to do that. So, walk first, presents later, yeah?'

'Rose, come and see,' Jackie called to her.

'Tienes algo en tu espalda,' the maid said, trying to tell Rose that she had something on her back.

['Satellite,'] the newsreader finished.

'What?' Rose asked the maid.

'Rose, look at the telly,' Jackie told her.

'Tienes algo en tu espalda,' the maid repeated urgently.

The newsreader was commentating on the breaking news. ['Replica of the RMS Titanic . . .']

'What does that mean? I don't know what you're sayin'.'

'Rose, look at the TV!' Jackie demanded.

'Tienes algo en tu espalda!' The maid could see the claws of something clinging to Rose's back, but there was nothing reflected in the bathroom mirror. The maid ran out of the room.

'For God's sake, Rose. Don't just stand there, come and look.'

['Not sure how this is possible, but this footage is live and genuine. The object is falling on Central London. I repeat, this is not a hoax. A replica of the Titanic is falling out of the sky, and it's heading for Buckingham Palace. We're getting this footage from the Guinevere range of satellites.']

'Is that a film or somethin'?' Rose asked in confusion.

['The Royal Air Force has declared an emerg . . .'] The screen went blank, and a short while later, a shockwave rattled the hotel.

Jackie started switching channels. 'It's gone dead. All of them.'

Rose had a similar feeling as she did on September 11th, 2001, when she couldn't believe that what she was watching was actually real. 'No, but, the Titanic? Well, don't be daft. Is that like a sequel?'

Mickey looked out of the window to confirm what he had just seen on the TV. 'Oh. Oh-my-God!'

Mickey and Jackie quickly got dressed, and they went outside to join the other guests and staff to look down the valley, to the viaduct and beyond, to where a mushroom cloud was rising into the sky.

'I was supposed to be out there doin' emergency breakdowns,' Mickey said quietly. 'Old man Clancy said he'd cover it as we'd won this break. Merry Christmas he said. I should have been there. We all should. We'd be dead.

Jackie had tears in her eyes. 'That's everyone. Every single person we know. The whole city.'

'Can't be,' Rose said in disbelief.

'But it is. It's gone. London's gone.'

Mickey put a comforting arm around his girlfriend's shoulders. 'If you hadn't won that raffle.'

Rose looked at everyone around her, and saw the maid pointing an accusing finger at her.

* * *

Jackie, Rose and Mickey were in a housing office in makeshift premises, waiting to be relocated to a new home somewhere in the United Kingdom.

'Leeds?' Rose said. 'I'm not movin' to Leeds.'

The housing officer sighed. 'I'm afraid it's Leeds or you can wait in the hostel for another three months.'

'All I want's a washin' machine,' Jackie told her.

'What about Glasgow? I heard there was jobs goin' in Glasgow,' Mickey said.

'You can't pick and choose. We've the whole of Southern England flooded with radiation. Seven million people in need of relocation, and now France has closed its borders. So, it's Leeds or nothing. Next!'

An army bus took them on the uncomfortable journey to Leeds, where they were billeted at number twenty nine. They didn't even know the name of the street. They were living in the kitchen, sharing the terraced house with the Colasanto family and the Merchandani family.

They settled into their new home, and were invited to eat with the other families in the house. They were watching the news on the emergency broadcast channel.

['America is in crisis, with over sixty million reported dead. Sixty million people have dissolved into fat. And the fat is walking. People's fat has come to life and is walking through the streets. And there are spaceships. There are reports of spaceships over every major US city. The fat is flying. It's leaving . . .']

'Aliens,' Mickey said.

Rose held his hand. 'Yeah.'

['The fat creatures are being raised into the air . . .]

Later that night in the kitchen, by the light of tea-lights, Rose and Mickey shared a camp bed made for one, while Jackie took the other one. The beds were head to head, as they chatted.

'Mary McGinty. Do you remember her?' Jackie asked them.

Rose frowned. 'Who was she?'

'Worked in the newsagent on the estate. Little woman. Black hair.'

'Never really spoke to her,' Rose admitted.

'She'll be dead,' Jackie said in a matter of fact tone. 'Every day I think of someone else. All dead.'

'Maybe she went away for Christmas,' Mickey suggested.

'Maybe.'

'I'll go out tomorrow,' Mickey said. 'I'll walk into town. There's got to be work. Everyone needs a mechanic. Soon as I'm earnin', we'll get a proper place. Just you wait Babe.'

'What if it never gets better?' Jackie asked.

'Course it will,' Rose said without conviction.

'Even the bees are disappearin',' Jackie said absently. 'Ya don't see bumble bees anymore.'

'They'll sort us out Mum. The emergency government. They'll do somethin'.'

'What if they don't?'

'Then we'll complain,' Rose said light heartedly.

Jackie sighed. 'Who's going to listen to us? Refugees. We haven't even got a vote. We're just no one, Rose. We don't exist.'


	14. Turn Back

**Chapter 14**

 **Turn Back**

Outside number 29, a soldier was firing at his Land Rover, which was pumping out thick exhaust gas.

'Hey! Firing at the car is not so good. You, you crazy or what?' Rocco Colasanto asked him.

'It's this ATMOS thing, it won't stop. It's like gas. It's toxic.'

'Well, switch it off,' Mickey said.

'I have done. It's still going. It's all the cars. Every single ATMOS car, they've gone mad.' The soldier glanced at Rose and tensed up, readying his weapon. 'You, lady. Turn round! Turn around now!' He raised his weapon and pointed it at Rose.

'Are you crazy, boy?' Rocco asked the young soldier.

Mickey was furious that his girlfriend was being threatened. 'Put the gun down!'

'I said, turn round! Show me your back!' the soldier ordered.

Jackie could see he was nervous and might pull the trigger by mistake. 'Do what he says Sweetheart!'

'Show me your back!'

'Turn around!' Jackie told her. The sooner he saw that nothing was there the better.

'Turn around, now! Show me your back!'

Rose raised her arms and turned around slowly.

The soldier relaxed and lowered his rifle. 'Sorry. I thought I saw . . .'

Mickey was in his face. 'Call yourself a soldier? Pointing guns at innocent women? You're a disgrace!'

Rose put a hand on his arm and pulled him away. 'Mickey. It's okay. With all this gas an' everythin', it's difficult to see clearly. Why don't you tell 'em you're a mechanic? You might be able to stop the ATMOS thing.'

He glared at the soldier, and then looked at Rose, which calmed him down. 'Yeah, okay . . . are you all right though?'

Rose saw a bright flash of light at the bottom of the street over his shoulder. 'I'm fine. I'm just gonna get some air away from these fumes.'

'Rose? Where're ya goin'?' Jackie asked. 'It ain't safe at night. Rose! Rose!'

She walked down the street and around the corner. 'Hello Mickey.'

Mickey was in his padded coat with his hands in his pockets. 'Hi. You don't seem surprised to see me.'

'It wasn't hard to work out there were two of you.'

'Oh? I thought I'd been quite careful.'

'Hey. Reality check. This is me you're talkin' to. For a start, you're wearin' a jacket you don't own, I checked your wardrobe.'

'You're a proper Sherlock Holmes, ain'tcha.'

'I have my moments, yeah. And then when I saw ya in the street last Christmas, y'said "Rose, I've found you at last", not "I've been lookin' for ya". Also, y'said "I've come so far", when Mickey would only have come the same distance as me from the pub. And lastly, when I talked to Mickey about it later, he hadn't got a clue what I was talkin' about.'

'Ah. Caught out by, well, me. How weird is that?' he said with a laugh. 'I guess I won't be needin' this now,' he said, peeling off a wig to reveal his closely shaved head.

'Ooh, suits ya. So, you gonna tell me who you are, an' what's goin' on? 'Cos I've gotta tell ya, life's pretty shit at the moment.'

Mickey led her up to the park, and they sat on a bench. 'This gas is from the ATMOS devices. We're lucky, it's not so bad here. Britain hasn't got that much petrol. But all over Europe, China, South Africa, they're getting choked by gas.'

'Can't anyone stop it?'

'Yeah, they're trying right now, this little band of fighters, on board the Sontaran ship. Any second now,' he told her and looked up to the sky. Orange flames broiled across the sky.

'And that was?'

'That was the Torchwood team. Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, they gave their lives. And Captain Jack Harkness has transported to the Sontaran home world. There's no one left.'

'Except you. So how come there's two of you?'

'It's a bit complicated Babe. You see, none of this was meant to happen. The Doctor was supposed to stop it. The Titanic, the Adipose, the ATMOS, he stopped them all from happenin'.'

'But he's dead. I saw him.'

'He died underneath the Thames on Christmas Eve, but you were meant to be there. Oh, you were SO meant to be with him Babe. I can't tell you too much, time lines an' stuff, but you have a fantastic life with him. Y'see, sometimes he needed someone to stop him, and that was you. You made him leave. You saved his life.'

Rose had a memory of the Racnoss Queen, and water bursting into the tunnels below the Thames. "Doctor! What have you done?", she'd called to him, but it wasn't the Doctor as she knew him.

'Stop it Mickey. I don't know what you're talkin' about. Leave me alone!'

'Somethin's coming, Rose. Somethin' worse.'

Rose looked around her. 'The whole world is stinkin'. How can anythin' be worse than this?'

'Trust me. We need the Doctor more than ever. I've . . . I've been pulled across from a different universe because every single universe is in danger. Its coming, Rose. It's coming from across the stars and nothin' can stop it.'

'What is?'

'The darkness.'

'Well, what do you keep tellin' me for? What am I supposed to do Mickey? I'm nothin' special. I mean, I'm, I'm not. I'm nothin' special. I'm a dinner lady at a school. I'm not even that now. I'm nothin'.'

'Rose Tyler, you're the most important woman in the whole of creation. And that's not just your old boyfriend talkin'.'

'Oh, don't Mickey. Just don't. I'm tired. I'm so tired.'

'Rose, I need you to come with me. I've got somethin' to show ya.'

Rose thought for a long while before speaking. 'This had better be good.'

 **UNIT** **Warehouse.**

 **Location: Top Secret.**

A UNIT Land Rover collected Other Mickey and Rose, and delivered them to a warehouse filled with scientific equipment, UNIT soldiers and people in white lab coats. There was an announcement over the tannoy as they walked through the plastic strip doors.

['Lodestone testing now at fifteen point four. Repeat, fifteen point four.']

A dark skinned female officer saluted Other Mickey. 'Sir.'

'Ma'am,' Other Mickey said with a lopsided smile, touching two fingers to his forehead in a mock salute. 'She keeps salutin' me like that. She's doin' my head in.'

'Well, if you're not going to tell us who you are . . .'

Other Mickey went to a control console. 'I've told you who I am. Rose, tell her who I am.'

'Well. He looks like Mickey Smith. He talks like Mickey Smith. But he ain't actin' like the Mickey Smith I know an' love. He's back in Leeds with my mum.'

'I've crossed too many different realities. Trust me, the wrong word in the wrong place can change an entire causal nexus,' Other Mickey told them.

'He talks like that . . . A lot. And you must be Miss Tyler.'

'Rose.'

'Captain Erisa Magambo. Thank you for this.' She held out her hand and shook Rose's.

'I don't even know what I'm doin'.'

Other Mickey looked up from the console. 'Is it awake?'

'Seems to be quiet today. Ticking over. Like it's waiting.'

'Oh my God, it's the Doctor's TARDIS!'

'They salvaged it from underneath the Thames,' Other Mickey told her, nodding for her to go inside.

Rose stepped past the bundle of cables that were coming out of the TARDIS door, and went inside. She was immediately aware of how dark and quiet it was from when she had last been inside. 'This room used to shine with light. What's happened?'

'I think it's dying,' Other Mickey told her.

Rose stroked the time rotor and it moved a little.

'Still trying to help though,' he said.

'You said I had a fantastic life with him, but I'm nothin' special. What was he doin' with me?'

'Like me, he thought you were brilliant.'

'Don't be stupid.'

'But you are Babe. It just took the Doctor to show you that, simply by bein' with him. He did the same to me. To everyone he touches.'

'Really? When we were battlin' the Nestene, I had to keep remindin' him you existed.'

Other Mickey gave a single laugh and smiled. 'Yeah, that was just him tryin' to wind me up.' He stroked Rose's shoulder. 'Do you want to see it?'

Rose hesitated. 'No . . . Go on, then.'

They went back into the warehouse, where the cables from the TARDIS led to a circle of mirrors and arc lights.

'We don't know how the TARDIS works,' Other Mickey explained. 'But we've managed to scrape off the surface technology, enough to show you the creature.'

'It's a creature?' Rose asked in surprise.

'Just stand here.' he said, holding her shoulders in the middle of the circle of mirrors.

'Out of the circle, please,' the captain requested.

'Yes, ma'am,' Other Mickey said with a smirk, leaving Rose alone in the middle of the mirrors.

'Can't you stay with me?' she asked nervously.

'Ready,' Erisa said. 'And activate.'

The lights came on, and Rose had her eyes screwed up tight.

'Open your eyes, Rose,' Other Mickey said.

'Is it there?'

'Open your eyes. Look at it.'

'I can't.'

'It's part of you, Rose,' Mickey said quietly. 'Look.'

Rose opened her eyes, and wished that she hadn't. There was a giant stag horn beetle hanging on her back like a rucksack. She started turning left and right, panicking.

'It's okay, it's okay, it's okay,' Other Mickey said kindly. 'Calm down, Rose. Rose? Rose! Okay.'

'What is it?'

Other Mickey hesitated. 'We don't know.'

'Oh, thanks,' she said sarcastically.

'It feeds off time, by changing time. By making someone's life take a different turn, like er, meetings never made, children never born, a life never loved. But with you, it's . . .'

'But I never did anythin' important,' Rose interrupted. 'You know that. I was just a shop girl and a dinner lady.'

'You were never "just" anythin' Rose, and you did do somethin' important. One day that thing made you turn your back on the Doctor instead of goin' with him.'

'Wha? You mean on the Embankment, after the Nestene thing?'

'Yeah, and by turning away, you never went with the Doctor, and the whole world just changed around you.'

'Can you get rid of it?'

'No, I can't even touch it. It seems to be in a state of flux.'

'What does that mean?'

'Dunno. It's the sort of thing the Doctor would say,' he said with a grin.

'You liar!' Rose exclaimed. 'You told me I was special. But it's not me, it's this thing. I'm just a host!'

'No, there's more than that. The readings are strange. It's, it's like reality's just bending round you.'

'Because of this thing!' she stated, looking at it in the mirrors.

'No, no! We're getting separate readings from you Rose. And they've always been there, since the day you were born.'

'This is not relevant to the mission,' Erisa told him.

Other Mickey ignored her. This was Rose, his best friend and ex-girlfriend. It was very relevant. 'I thought it was just the Doctor we needed, but it's the both of you. The Doctor and Rose Tyler, together, in the TARDIS. The stuff of legend. The legend that stops the stars from going out.'

'Why? What can I do?' she pleaded, nearly in tears. 'Turn it off, please.'

Other Mickey looked over at Erisa. 'Captain.'

'Power down.'

Other Mickey went to Rose and hugged her. 'It's still there, though. What can I do to get rid of it?' she asked him.

'You're going to travel in time.'

One of the warehouse staff in a white coat, helped Rose to put on a khaki military coat with lots of wires all over it, and Other Mickey started the mission briefing. 'The TARDIS has tracked down the moment of intervention,' Other Mickey told her. 'Saturday the fifth of March, one minute past ten at night, on a walkway by the National Theatre. The Doctor returns and tells you the TARDIS also travels in time. I remind you of that disastrous affair with that wanker Jimmy.'

'Mickey!' Rose chastised him.

'Sorry. Still a sore point. Anyway; at the moment the Doctor steps back inside the TARDIS, you have to convince yourself to go with the Doctor. On no account can you let him see you, or the game's up and the causal nexus collapses.'

'Keep the jacket on at all times. It's insulation against temporal feedback,' Erisa instructed. A scientist fitted a high tech watch to her wrist. 'This will correspond to local time wherever you land.' She held out a glass of water for Rose. 'This is to combat dehydration.'

Rose's head was spinning with information as she was escorted back to the mirrors.

'This is where we leave you,' Other Mickey said sadly.

'I don't want to see that thing on my back' she told him.

'No, the mirrors are just incidental. They bounce chronon energy back into the centre which we control and decide the destination.'

'It's a time machine,' Rose said with a smile.

Other Mickey returned her smile. 'It's a time machine.'

'If you could?' Erisa urged.

Other Mickey and Rose hugged for a long time, and then Rose kissed him on the lips, before taking her place in the middle.

'Powering up,' Erisa said.

A thought occurred to Rose as the machine started to power up. 'How do you know it's going to work?'

'Hmm? Oh yeah, we, we don't. We're just, we're just guessing,' Other Mickey said sheepishly.

'Oh, brilliant,' Rose said, rolling her eyes. 'Should have know better than trust a dodgy mechanic from a back street garage.'

'Oi! I'll ignore that. Just remember, when you get to the South Bank, change your mind by one minute past ten.'

'How do I do that?'

'It's up to you.'

'Well, I just have to run up to myself and have a good argument.'

'I'd like to see that!' Mickey said with a grin.

'Activate lodestone,' Erisa ordered.

'Good luck Babe.'

'I'm ready.'

'One minute past ten.'

'Activate!' Erisa called out and sparks flew along the power cables running to the TARDIS, and Rose dematerialised.

 **The South Bank of the Thames.**

 **London.**

 **Saturday, 5th March 2005.**

WHOP!

'Urgh. If that's time travel, you can keep it,' Rose said to herself as she materialised on the South Bank and fell to her knees. She took some deep breaths, before standing up and looking around. She looked up and laughed at the irony of it. There in front of her was the London Eye, the very thing the Nestene Consciousness had used to activate the Autons.

She looked at the chronometer, and it said 9:57. She could see the National Theatre about 300 yards away and started running, still not sure of what she would say to herself to convince her to go with the Doctor. She reached the entrance to the pedestrian walkway, and peeped around the corner.

There was the row of shuttered kiosks on one side, a wall with wheelie bins on the opposite side, and a lamppost with three round lamps on it in the middle . . . and no TARDIS. She only had a few minutes left to think of what to say.

The problem was that she knew how she would react to the various scenarios she was coming up with. If she just appeared as she was and said, "Hi, I'm you from the future and you really need to go with the Doctor when he comes back", it would just freak her out.

If she pulled her hoodie up and stayed in the shadows and said something like, "Rose Tyler, you have just made the biggest mistake of your life by saying no. When he comes back, just say yes", it would freak her out.

She would ask questions, "who are ya? What are yer on about? Why the hell should I?" to name but a few. And she had to do it without the Doctor seeing, hearing or knowing that she was there. Time was running out, and then she heard that sound.

The blue police box slowly appeared out of thin air in the middle of the pedestrian walkway. The door opened, and Mickey ran out to crouch down and hide behind a wooden pallet that was standing up against one of the kiosks. She then saw herself step out of the TARDIS, looking at her mobile phone, listening to her mum and then putting it back in her pocket.

'A fat lot of good you were,' Rose said to Mickey, as she stooped down to try and help him up. He was pointing at the Doctor standing in the doorway of the TARDIS.

'Nestene Consciousness?' the Doctor said, clicking his fingers. 'Easy.'

'You were useless in there. You'd be dead if it wasn't for me,' Rose reminded him.

'Yes, I would,' the Doctor said sheepishly. 'Thank you. Right then, I'll be off . . . unless, er, I don't know . . . you could come with me,' he said hesitantly. 'This box isn't just a London hopper, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe free of charge.'

'Don't,' Mickey warned her. 'He's an alien . . . He's a thing.'

'He's not invited. What do you think?' the Doctor asked. 'You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go anywhere.'

'Is it always this dangerous?'

He smiled at her. 'Yeah.'

She saw Mickey grab Rose around her waist. 'Yeah, I can't. I've er, I've got to go and find my mum and someone's got to look after this stupid lump, so . . .'

'Okay,' he said disappointedly. 'See you around.'

They stood there, looking at each other for a long time before the Doctor reluctantly stepped backwards into the TARDIS and closed the door. The engines started up, and the TARDIS dematerialised.

This was it, it was now or never. What did she do? What did she say? What if she was arguing with herself when the TARDIS returned?

'Come on, let's go,' Rose said quietly, helping Mickey to his feet. 'Come on. Come on.'

They slowly walked towards her, but she knew they would only make it part of the way when they would hear the TARDIS. Could she make them hurry up so that she could explain things out of sight of the Doctor?

Too late! She heard the unmistakable sound of time and space being twisted out of shape, and the pair turned to watch the quirky blue box appear where it had been moments before. The door opened, and the Doctor stood there with a smirk on his face.

'By the way, did I mention it also travels in time.' The Doctor stepped backwards into the TARDIS, waiting for Rose to make her mind up.

Rose was about to rush out and hope that she could convince herself to go with the Doctor, when she suddenly realised what she had to do. It wasn't about her at all, it was about Mickey. It was one of those moments of clarity that occurs in life or death situations, that you wonder why you hadn't thought of it before, because it was SO obvious.

Mickey was about to remind her about her disastrous fling with Jimmy Stone, and that memory was enough to trigger her guilt complex and stop her from leaving in the TARDIS. And without knowing it, Rose tapped into a unique feature of the human brain.

'Mickey!' she whispered from the corner of the pedestrian walkway, and like any human, Mickey heard his name and turned to look. And that brief distraction was all it took for Rose to be able to make up her mind.

Rose turned towards Mickey. 'Thanks,' she said.

'What for?' Mickey said, thinking he'd missed something while he'd been looking towards the end of the walkway.

'Exactly!' She kissed him on his cheek, and ran into the TARDIS.

'Yes!' Rose said with a fist pull.

'Nice one Babe,' a familiar voice said behind her. 'I knew ya could do it.'

'Mickey! What are you doin' here? Hang on . . . what am I doin' here? Shouldn't I be on the TARDIS with the Doctor by now?'

'Y'know, the Doctor always said you were smart and asked the right questions, and he was right. That thing's still on yer back and there's one more thing you need to do. You need to give the Doctor a message.'

'And what's the message?'

'Just tell him Bad Wolf.'

* * *

Rose screamed, as key events in her altered timeline rewound. A parasitic alien beetle dropped from her back, as the Asian fortune teller cowered in the corner of the hut in fear.

'What the hell is that?' Rose said in disgust.

'You were so strong . . . What are you? What will you be?' she said, scrabbling to her feet, and fleeing out the back of the hut. 'What will you be?' she repeated from outside as she ran away.

'Everything all right?' the Doctor said cheerfully, popping his head between the curtains.

'Oh, God,' she said in distress, rushing forward and hugging him.

'What was that for?' the Doctor said, bemused by her reaction.

'I don't know,' she laughed, and kissed him. 'I'm just SO glad that you're here, and not dead.'

'Eh?'

'I was havin' my palm read, and it was like I was daydreamin', but it was real. I never went with you in the TARDIS and you were killed in that incident under the Thames, and the world went to hell in a hand basket,' she said quickly, trying to tell him before it went and was forgotten.

'Oh hello, and what's this thing then?' he said, looking at the dead beetle on it's back.

'I . . . I turned back. I was with Mickey in the alley, and I turned back towards you, and then everythin' seemed to go in reverse, and that thing fell off my back.'

The Doctor picked it up off the floor, and placed it on a cloth covered box. He guided his trembling wife to a chair and sat her down, before sitting himself and flipping over the beetle to examine it. He prodded it with a small stick, and leg twitched in a reflex action, it was definitely dead.

'So what happened in this vision of hell that you had?'

'I can't remember . . . it's slippin' away . . . You know like when you try and think of a dream and it just sort of goes.'

'Just got lucky, this thing, it's one of the Trickster's Brigade . . . Changes a life in tiny little ways,' he told her. It was a creature of the abstract, a smaller, less powerful version of a weeping angel. 'Most times, the universe just compensates around it, but with you? Great big parallel world.'

Rose smiled, and then thought about what he'd said. 'Hold on. You said parallel worlds are sealed off.'

'They are, but you had one created around you. Funny thing is, seems to be happening a lot . . . to you.' There was something he couldn't put his finger on, something about his wife.

'How d'ya mean?'

'Well, the Library and then this.'

'Just . . . goes with the job, I suppose.'

'Sometimes I think there's way too much coincidence around you, Rose.' He was trying to gather his thoughts; it was as though she was the opposite of Jack Harkness, where he appeared "wrong", Rose appeared impossibly "right".

'I met you in that basement, and wham! I held your hand and the whole of time and space converged on that moment. It's like something's binding us together.'

'Don't be so daft. I'm nothin' special.'

'Yes, you are. You're brilliant,' he said in a playful voice that made her smile.

'Shut up,' she said playfully, and then had a flashback to Mickey.

['Like me, he thought you were brilliant.']

'Mickey said that.'

'When?'

'In the dream . . . I can't remember,' she said, shaking her head.

'Well, it's over now.' That time line had been changed, corrected, eliminated.

'No, but he said the stars . . . He said the stars are goin' out.'

'Yeah, but that world's gone.'

'No, but he said it was all worlds, every world . . . He said the darkness is comin' . . . even here.' Rose then remembered the end of her vision; Mickey had given her a message for the Doctor. 'But Mickey told me to warn you. He gave me a message.'

'What message? What did he say?' he asked urgently.

'Bad Wolf . . .'

Bad Wolf . . .? BAD WOLF . . .? What the hell? He certainly wasn't expecting that.

'Well, what does it mean? What's Bad Wolf got to do with it?'

That was a very good question, he thought as he ran outside. Every printed thing now said Bad Wolf, the posters on the walls, the flags, the banners. Even the TARDIS said Bad Wolf instead of Police Box. He ran inside, to see the time rotor glowing with an ominous red light.

'DONG!' The cloister bell tolled.

'Doctor, what is it?' Rose asked.

'It's the end of the universe.'

'What?'

'We've got to get back to Earth,' he told her as he started the time rotor. He ran around the console like a man possessed, impatient to land and see what fate was about to befall the universe. He ran outside . . . onto a grass verge of a quiet, suburban street.

'It's fine . . . Everything's fine . . . Nothing's wrong, all fine,' he said as they turned in circles, looking around at the normal street.

They watched a milk float trundle up the street and stop outside a house. 'Excuse me . . . what day is it?' the Doctor called to the Milkman.

'Saturday,' the Milkman called back, thinking he must have had a good Friday night out if he couldn't remember it was Saturday.

'Saturday . . . Good,' he called back. 'Good, I like Saturdays,' he said quietly to himself.

'So, I really met Mickey?' Rose asked him.

'Yeah,' he replied distractedly.

'But he's locked away in a parallel world.'

'Exactly. If he can cross from his parallel world to your parallel world, then that means the walls of the universe are breaking down, which puts everything in danger. Everything . . . But how?'

He went back into the TARDIS to check on the status of the universe, and Rose followed him. He started adjusting the controls, and looked at the display monitor, as the TARDIS lurched with a crunching sound, sending them sprawling across the console. It was odd, because they weren't even in flight, they were still parked on the grass verge on the quiet, suburban street, or so he thought.

'What the hell was that?' Rose shouted.

'Don't know. It came from outside.' He ran down the ramp to see what had happened, and he pulled the doors open. The grass verge on the quiet, suburban street had gone, so had the Milkman and his float, along with the houses, the neighbourhood, and the rest of the planet.

'But we're in space,' Rose observed as he ran back to the console. 'How did that happen.. what did you do?'

'We haven't moved, we're fixed,' he said, frowning at the monitor. 'It can't have . . . No.' He ran back to join Rose at the Doors. 'The TARDIS is still in the same place, but the Earth has gone . . . the entire planet . . . it's gone.'


	15. The Stolen Earth

**Chapter 15**

 **The Stolen Earth**

'But if the Earth's been moved, they've lost the Sun,' Rose reasoned. 'What about all the people? Jack, Martha, my friends? They're dead, aren't they? Are they dead?'

'I don't know, Rose. I just don't know. I'm sorry, I don't know.'

'That's my whole world.'

'There's no readings. Nothing. Not a trace. Not even a whisper. Oh, that is fearsome technology.'

'So what do we do?'

'We've got to get help.'

'Where from?'

'Rose, I'm taking you to the Shadow Proclamation. Hold tight.'

'Hang on, the Shadow Proclamation. You've mentioned them before,' she said as the TARDIS rocked and swayed.

'Posh name for police. Outer space police. Here we go.' He threw a lever, and the TARDIS bucked, throwing them across the console.

The Doctor landed the TARDIS, and he tentatively stepped outside, followed by Rose. They were greeted by an armed platoon of Judoon, who raised their weapons.

'Argh!' Rose screamed. 'It's them. Those thugs on the moon!'

'It's all right Rose. They are police for hire, and right now, they're being hired by the Shadow Proclamation.'

'Sco bo tro no flo jo ko fo to to,' the Judoon leader said.

'No bo ho sho ko ro to so. Bokodozogobofopojo,' the Doctor replied, and the Judoon lowered their weapons and snapped to attention. 'Moho.'

The Shadow Architect was a silver-haired woman in a black gown, and she was pacing around her office. 'Time Lords are the stuff of legend. They belong in the myths and whispers of the Higher Species. You cannot possibly exist.'

'Yeah. More to the point, I've got a missing planet,' he said dismissively.

'Then you're not as wise as the stories would say. The picture is far bigger than you imagine. The whole universe is in outrage, Doctor. Twenty four worlds have been taken from the sky.'

'How many?. Which ones? Show me,' he said as he joined the Architect at her computer screen.

'Locations range far and wide, but all disappeared at the exact same moment, leaving no trace.'

The Doctor read the list. 'Callufrax Minor. Jahoo. Shallacatop. Woman Wept. Clom . . . Clom's gone? Who'd want Clom?'

'Clom?' Rose said. Wasn't that where the Absorbaloff came from? The sister planet of Raxacoricofallapatorius?'

The Doctor grinned at her. 'That's the one.'

'All different sizes. Some populated, some not. But all unconnected.'

'What about Pyrovillia?' Rose asked.

'Who is the female?' the Architect asked the Doctor, ignoring Rose.

'Rose. I'm his wife, and I'm a human being. Maybe not the stuff of legend but every bit as important as Time Lords, thank you.' The Doctor raised his eyebrows and gave her a proud smile. 'Way back, when we were in Pompeii, Lucius said Pyrovillia had gone missing.'

'Pyrovillia is cold case. Not relevant,' the Judoon said.

'How do you mean, cold case?' Rose asked.

'The planet Pyrovillia cannot be part of this. It disappeared over two thousand years ago,' the Architect said.

Rose remembered something else. 'Yes, yes, hang on. But there's the Adipose breedin' planet, too. Miss Foster said that was lost, but that must've been a long time ago.'

'That's it! Rose, brilliant. Planets are being taken out of time as well as space. Let's put this into 3-D,' he said, adjusting the controls on the computer. Holograms of the missing planets started to fill the room. 'Now, if we add Pyrovillia and Adipose Three. Something missing. Where else, where else, where else? Where else lost, lost, lost, lost. Oh! The Lost Moon of Poosh.'

With the last sphere added, the representations suddenly reorganised themselves.

'What did you do?' the Architect asked him.

'Nothing. The planets rearranged themselves into the optimum pattern. Oh, look at that. Twenty seven planets in perfect balance. Come on, that is gorgeous.'

'Hey, don't go all weird on me,' Rose said, wrapping her arm around his waist. 'What does it mean?'

'All those worlds fit together like pieces of an engine. It's like a powerhouse. What for?'

'Who could design such a thing?' the Architect asked.

'Someone tried to move the Earth once before . . . Long time ago . . . Can't be,' he said, thinking back to his eighth incarnation, a Time Lord monk, and a Dalek Time Controller in 2190.

'Rose went and sat on the stairs while the Architect and the Doctor discussed the significance of the planetary alignment. She thought she could hear music, music she'd heard once before, but couldn't remember where or when.

A white-haired, pink eyed young woman interrupted her thoughts by offering her a tray. 'You need sustenance. Take the water, it purifies.'

'Thanks.'

'There was something on your back.'

'How d'you know that?'

'You are something new,' the albino said.

'Not me. I'm just a human girl who married a Time Lord.'

'No, there is more to you than that. Something hiding inside.'

'Oh, the baby. Yeah, I suppose you could say that.'

It was not the baby the albino girl was talking about, but she said no more about it and went up the stairs as the Doctor walked over to Rose.

'Rose, come on, think. Earth. There must've been some sort of warning. Was anything happening back in your day, like electrical storms, freak weather, patterns in the sky?'

'Well, how should I know? Er, no. I don't think so, no. The weird stuff started happenin' when you turned up.'

'Oh, okay, never mind.'

'Although, Mum did say somethin' about the bees disappearin' when I went home once.'

'The bees disappearing. The bees disappearing. The bees disappearing!' he said excitedly.

'How is that significant?' the Architect asked.

Rose explained. 'On Earth we had these insects. Some people said it was pollution or mobile phone signals.'

'Or, they were going back home,' the Doctor suggested.

'Back home where?'

'Planet Melissa Majoria.'

'Are you saying bees are aliens?' Rose asked in dibelief.

'Don't be so daft,' the Doctor said. 'Not all of them. But if the migrant bees felt something coming, some sort of danger, and escaped? Tandocca.'

'The Tandocca Scale,' the Architect realised.

The Doctor saw Rose's questioning look. 'Tandocca Scale is the series of wavelengths used as a carrier signals by migrant bees. Infinitely small.' He adjusted the controls on the computer. 'No wonder we didn't see it. It's like looking for a speck of cinnamon in the Sahara, but look, there it is. The Tandocca trail. The transmat that moved the planets was using the same wavelength, we can follow the path.'

'And find the Earth? Well, stop talkin' and do it,' Rose told him.

'I am.'

They ran to the TARDIS and went inside, hurrying to the console view screen. 'We're a bit late. The signal's scattered, but it's a start.' He ran back down the ramp and poked his head out of the door. 'I've got a blip. It's just a blip, but it's definitely a blip.'

'Then according to the Strictures of the Shadow Proclamation, I will have to seize your transport and your technology,' the Architect told him.

The Doctor frowned. 'Oh, really? What for?'

'The planets were stolen with hostile intent. We are declaring war, Doctor, right across the universe, and you will lead us into battle.'

'Right. Yes. Course I will. I'll just . . . go and get you the key.'

He went back inside and shut the door. A few seconds later, the TARDIS dematerialised. Like he was ever going to lead anyone into battle. especially in the TARDIS.

The Architect looked surprised. 'Doctor, come back! By the Holy Writ of the Shadow Proclamation, I order you to stop!' She really didn't know the Doctor very well.

The time rotor stopped suddenly, with a "clomp". 'It's stopped,' he said, looking at the screen.

'What do you mean? Is that good or bad? Where are we?'

'The Medusa Cascade. I came here when I was just a kid, ninety years old. It was the centre of a rift in time and space.'

Rose looked at the multi-coloured nebula on the screen. 'So, where are the twenty seven planets?'

'Nowhere. The Tandocca Trail stops dead. End of the line.'

'So what do we do? Doctor, what do we do?' she asked. He just stood there, looking at the screen. 'Now don't do this to me. No, don't. Don't do this to me. Not now. Tell me, what are we gonna do? You never give up. Please.'

The Doctor rested against the coral with his arms crossed and deep in thought, while Rose leaned against the console. He was running through millions of ideas a second, trying to come up with a way to pick up the trail again.

Be-be-beep! Be-be-beep!

'Phone!' he exclaimed.

'Doctor, phone,' Rose echoed, as she took her phone out of her pocket.

'Martha, is that you?' she asked, thinking her friend and UNIT employee would be the first to try and phone her. She frowned at her phone as it went "ding-ding, ding-ding, di-di-di-dit".

The Doctor took it off her and looked at it. 'It's a signal.'

'Can we follow it?'

He took out his stethoscope, and put it on her phone. 'Oh, just watch me.' He started making adjustments to the console. 'Got it. Locking on.'

The TARDIS was tossed about like a small boat on stormy seas. The console strained with the effort of trying to follow the phone signal, and exploded in flames as they hung on.

'We're travelling through time. One second in the future. The phone call's pulling us through . . . Three, two, one.' They both screamed as the planets popped into existence around them. The TARDIS stopped shaking, and Rose looked at the view screen.

'Twenty seven planets . . . And there's the Earth. But why couldn't we see them?'

'The entire Medusa Cascade has been put a second out of sync with the rest of the universe. Perfect hiding place. Tiny little pocket of time. But we found them. Ooh, ooh, ooh, what's that? Hold on, hold on. Some sort of Subwave Network.'

Jack Harkness, Sarah Jane Smith, and Martha Jones appeared on quarters of the screen. 'Where the hell have you been?' Jack asked. 'Doctor, it's the Daleks.'

'Oh, he's a bit nice,' they heard a Welsh woman say off camera. 'I thought he'd be older.' Rose gave him a grin.

'He's not that young,' a Welshman said, and Rose burst out laughing.

They all started speaking at once. 'It's the Daleks. They're taking people to their spaceship,' Sarah Jane said, as Martha said, 'It's not just Dalek Caan.'

'. . . Surrendered,' Jack finished.

The Doctor was grinning at the screen. 'Sarah Jane. Who's that boy? That must be Torchwood. Oh, they're brilliant. Look at you all, you clever people.'

'That's Martha,' Rose observed. 'And Jack, handsome as ever.'

'Don't,' the Doctor warned her. 'Just don't.'

'It's like an outer space Facebook,' Rose said with a smile.

'Everyone except Donna and the Mickey Boy,' he said, before the screen suddenly went blank. 'Oh.'

'We've lost 'em.'

'No, no, no, no, no. There's another signal coming through. There's someone else out there. Hello? Can you hear me? Mickey?'

A croaky, electronic voice came through the speaker and made him freeze. 'Your voice is different, and yet its arrogance is unchanged. Welcome to my new Empire Doctor. It is only fitting that you should bear witness to the resurrection and the triumph of Davros, lord and creator of the Dalek race.'

Rose saw the look on his face and was worried. 'Doctor?'

'Have you nothing to say?' Davros taunted.

'Doctor, it's all right. We're, we're in the TARDIS. We're safe,' she said, hoping it was true.

'But you were destroyed. In the very first year of the Time War, at the Gates of Elysium. I saw your command ship fly into the jaws of the Nightmare Child. I tried to save you.'

'But it took one stronger than you . . . Dalek Caan himself.'

They heard the weak voice of something that was obviously mad. 'I flew into the wild and fire. I danced and died a thousand times.'

'Emergency Temporal Shift took him back into the Time War itself,' Davros explained.

'But that's impossible,' the Doctor said. 'The entire War is time locked.'

'And yet he succeeded. Oh, it cost him his mind, but imagine. A single, simple Dalek succeeded where Emperors and Time Lords have failed. A testament, don't you think, to my remarkable creations?' Davros gloated.

'And you made a new race of Daleks.'

'I gave myself to them, quite literally. Each one grown from a cell of my own body.' Davros opened his tunic to reveal his bare ribs with just a few nerve endings over them, and his internal organs inside. 'New Daleks. True Daleks. I have my children, Doctor. What do you have, now?'

'After all this time, everything we saw, everything we lost, I have only one thing to say to you . . . Bye!' He threw a lever and the TARDIS flew off towards the Earth.

'Like a ghost town,' Rose said as she followed the Doctor out of the TARDIS onto a wrecked and deserted street.

'Sarah Jane said they were taking the people. What for? Think, Rose. When you met Mickey in that parallel world, what did he say?'

'Just, the darkness is comin'.'

'Anything else?'

He saw a big grin spread across her face as she looked past his shoulder. 'Why don't you ask him yourself?'

She rushed past him, running towards her old friend. The Doctor ran after her.

'Exterminate,' a Dalek screeched from a side street.

'ROSE!' the Doctor shouted as he threw himself in front of the beam of green energy. The Dalek's ray grazed the Doctor, but still lit him up and knocked him down.

'DOCTOR!' Rose screamed as she saw him fall.

There was a sudden flash of light, as Jack appeared and he blasted the Dalek with his plasma cannon. Rose knelt down and cradled his head. 'I've got you. It missed you.'

'Rose.'

'Don't die. Oh, my God. Don't die. Oh my god, don't die,' she pleaded.

'Get him into the TARDIS, quick. Move,' Jack ordered.

Mickey gave Jack his cannon, and helped Rose get the Doctor to his feet. They dragged him to the TARDIS and got him inside, where they laid him on the floor grating by the console. Rose was in tears as she stroked his face.

'Just step back. Rose, do as I say, and get back,' Jack told her. He's dying and you know what happens next.'

'What do you mean? He can't,' she said, remembering what had happened after Satellite 5.

'Oh crap. An' I came all this way,' Mickey said, thinking his mission was a failure.

'It's starting,' the Doctor said, as he looked at his glowing hand.

'Here we go. Good luck, Doctor,' Jack said, and pulled Rose and Mickey into a protective hug.

'Will someone please tell me what is going on?' Mickey asked.

'When he's dying, his er, his body, it repairs itself. It changes,' Rose explained.

'What, like it did that Christmas?'

'Yeah,' she said to Mickey, and then looked pleadingly at her glowing husband. 'But you can't!'

'I'm sorry, it's too late. I'm regenerating.' He had golden energy streaming from his hands and head, and he, Jack, and Rose believed he was regenerating. With an effort, the Doctor turned and pointed both hands towards his spare hand in the jar by the console. It absorbed it and he was released.

The Doctor sniffed, and straightened his tie. 'Now then. Where were we?' Rose, Jack and Mickey looked on in stunned amazement as he checked on his glowing spare hand.

'There now,' he said as he blew on the jar to stop the glowing. 'You see? Used the regeneration energy to heal myself, but soon as I was done, I didn't need to change. I didn't want to. Why would I? Look at me,' he said, winking a his wife. 'So, to stop the energy going all the way, I siphoned off the rest into a handy bio-matching receptacle, namely my hand. My hand there. My handy spare hand. Remember? Christmas Day, Sycorax. Lost my hand in a sword fight? That's my hand. What do you think?'

'You're still you?' Rose asked uncertainly.

He gave her a warm smile. 'I'm still me.' Rose grabbed him into a hug, and gave him a passionate kiss.

Jack looked at Mickey and gave him a big grin. 'You can do that to me if you want.'

'In your dreams,' Mickey replied.

Suddenly, the power went off. 'They've got us. Power's gone. Some kind of chronon loop,' the Doctor told them as the TARDIS tilted with a jerk.

'There's a massive Dalek ship at the centre of the planets. They're calling it the Crucible. Guess that's our destination,' Jack explained.

Rose looked at the Doctor. 'You said these planets were like an engine. But what for?'

'Mickey, you've been in a parallel world. That world's running ahead of this universe. You've seen the future. What was it?'

'It's the darkness,' he said.

Rose remembered what Mickey had told her in her alternate reality. 'The stars were goin' out.'

Mickey nodded. 'One by one. We looked up at the sky and they were just dyin'.' He looked sheepishly at Rose. 'Basically, we've been buildin' this, er, this travel machine, this, this er, dimension cannon, so I could. Well, so I could . . .'

Rose gave him her tongue between her teeth smile. 'What?'

'So I could come back,' he confessed, making her giggle. 'Shut up. Anyway, suddenly, it started to work and the dimensions started to collapse. Not just in our world, not just in yours, but the whole of reality. Even the Void was dead. Somethin' is destroyin' everythin'.

'In that parallel world, you said something about me,' Rose remembered.

'The dimension cannon could measure timelines, and it's, it's weird, Rose, but they all seemed to converge on you.'

'But why me? I mean, what have I ever done? Okay, I married a Time Lord, but I'm just a shop girl from Peckham.

The scanner beeped an alert. 'The Dalek Crucible. All aboard,' the Doctor said. 'We'll have to go out. Because if we don't, they'll get in.'

Rose frowned. 'You told me nothin' could get through those doors.'

'You've got extrapolator shielding,' Jack agreed.

The Doctor explained. 'Last time we fought the Daleks, they were scavengers and hybrids, and mad. But this is a fully-fledged Dalek Empire, at the height of its power. Experts at fighting TARDISes, they can do anything. Right now, that wooden door is just wood.'

'What about your dimension jump?'Jack asked Mickey.

'It needs another twenty minutes . . . And anyway, I'm not leavin'.'

'What about your teleport?' the Doctor asked Jack.

'Went down with the power loss.'

'Right then. All of us together. Yeah?' the Doctor said. He noticed that Rose seemed to be distracted. 'Rose?'

She was staring off into the distance. 'Rose?'

She'd been listening to that beautiful singing in her head, when she heard the Doctor calling her. 'Yeah?'

He put his hand on her shoulder. 'I'm sorry. There's nothing else we can do.'

'No, I know.'

'Daleks,' Mickey said.

'Oh, God,' Jack said, remembering his last encounter with them.

'It's been good, though, hasn't it? All of us. All of it. Everything we did,' The Doctor reflected. He looked at his gorgeous wife. 'You were brilliant.' He turned to his handsome friend Jack. 'And you were brilliant'. Finally, he turned to his old love rival Mickey. 'And you were brilliant . . . Blimey.' This was it, the journey's end. After 900 years of travelling the universe, his old enemy had finally cornered him. He walked down the ramp, leading his companions out of the TARDIS. Rose was still distracted by the singing in her head, and was lagging behind.

'Daleks reign supreme. All hail the Daleks!' the Red Dalek screeched.

The other Daleks joined in. 'Daleks reign supreme. All hail the Daleks! Daleks reign supreme. All hail the Daleks!'

Rose was still inside the TARDIS, the singing echoing in her ears, as the Doctor looked up at the phalanxes of Daleks flying around.

'Behold, Doctor. Behold the might of the true Dalek race,' Red Dalek gloated.

The Doctor looked to the open door of the TARDIS. 'Rose! You're no safer in there.' The door slammed shut. What did she think she was doing. 'What?'

Rose was shocked out of her reverie. 'Doctor? What have you done?' she shouted, banging on the door.

'It wasn't me. I didn't do anything,' he told her through the door.

'Hey! Hey, I'm not stayin' behind. I belong by your side!'

The Doctor turned to the Red Dalek. 'What did you do?!'

'This is not of Dalek origin.'

'Doctor!' Rose urgently called out.

'Stop it! She's my wife. Now open the door and let her out.'

'This is Time Lord treachery.'

'Me? The door just closed on its own.'

'Nevertheless, the TARDIS is a weapon and it will be destroyed.' A trapdoor opened under the TARDIS and it dropped through the floor.

'What are you doing? Bring it back!' the Doctor demanded.

'DOCTORRRR!' Rose screamed at the door.

The Doctor looked down the hole. 'What have you done? Where's it going?'

'The Crucible has a heart of Z-neutrino energy. The TARDIS will be deposited into the core.'

'You can't!' the Doctor exclaimed. 'You've taken the defences down. It'll be torn apart!'

Deep in the heart of the Crucible, the TARDIS dropped into the molten core. Inside, fires broke out and roundels exploded, making Rose yelp in fear.

'But Rose's still in there!' Mickey told the Red Dalek.

'Let her go!' Jack demanded.

'The female and the TARDIS will perish together. Observe. The last child of Gallifrey is powerless.'

An image of the TARDIS bobbing in the molten core appeared on a screen.

'Please. I'm begging you.' He was watching his wife and his unborn child being slowly burned to death in front of his eyes, 'I'll do anything! Put me in her place. You can do anything to me, I don't care, just get her out of there!'

'You are connected to the TARDIS,' Red Dalek said. 'Now feel it die.'

'Total TARDIS destruction in ten rels,' another Dalek announced. 'Nine, eight, seven, six . . .' It continued to count down.

On the screen, they watched in shocked silence as it reached one, and the TARDIS vanished. 'The TARDIS has been destroyed. Now tell me, Doctor. What do you feel? Anger? Sorrow? Despair?' Red Dalek asked.

'Yeah,' he whispered, hardly able to speak with the anger, sorrow and despair he was feeling.

'Then if emotions are so important, surely we have enhanced you?' Red Dalek reasoned.

'Yeah? Feel this!' Jack said angrily, drawing his revolver and shooting at the Red Dalek.

'Exterminate!' Red Dalek intoned as it zapped Jack.

Mickey ran forward 'JACK! Oh, my God Doc. They've killed Jack.'

'Mickey, come away. Leave him,' the Doctor told him.

'Jeez! They killed him!' He really liked Jack, with all the playful banter they used to have, and the flirting Jack used to do.

'I know. I'm sorry.'

'Escort them to the Vault,' Red Dalek commanded.

'There's nothing we can do,' the Doctor said in resignation.

'They are the playthings of Davros now.'

As they were led away, the Doctor glanced at Jack's body and saw him wink.

 **The Vault.**

 **Dalek Crucible.**

'Activate the holding cells,' Davros ordered, and spotlights shone down on the Doctor and Mickey. 'Excellent. Even when powerless, a Time Lord is best contained.'

'Still scared of me, then?' the Doctor taunted.

'It is time we talked, Doctor. After so very long.'

'No, no, no, no, no. We're not doing the nostalgia tour. I want to know what's happening right here, right now, because the Supreme Dalek said Vault, yeah? As in dungeon, cellar, prison. You're not in charge of the Daleks, are you? They've got you locked away down here in the basement like, what, a servant? Slave? Court jester?'

'We have an arrangement.'

'No, no, no, no, no. No, I've got the word. You're the Dalek's pet!'

'So very full of fire, is he not?' Davros said to Mickey. And to think you were sent across entire universes, striding parallel to parallel to find him again.'

'Leave him alone,' the Doctor said.

'He is mine to do as I please.'

'Then why am I still alive?' Mickey asked defiantly.

'You must be here. It was foretold. Even the Supreme Dalek would not dare to contradict the prophecies of Dalek Caan.'

In a corner of the vault, they could see an open Dalek casing, with the organic Dalek Caan inside. 'So cold and dark. Darkness is coming. The endless night.'

'What is that thing?' Mickey asked the Doctor.

'You've met before . . . at Canary Wharf. The last of the Cult of Skaro. But it flew into the Time War, unprotected.'

'Caan did more than that. He saw time. Its infinite complexity and majesty, raging through his mind. And he saw you. Both of you.'

'This I have foreseen, in the wild and the wind. The Doctor will be here as witness, at the end of everything. The Doctor and his precious Children of Time will see the wolf return, and the child of Skaro will be reborn.'

The Doctor had a flash of anger. 'Was it you, Caan? Did you kill Rose? Why did the TARDIS door close? Tell me!'

Davros smiled. 'Oh, that's it. The anger, the fire, the rage of a Time Lord who butchered millions. There he is. Why so shy? Show your companion. Show him your true self. Dalek Caan has promised me that too.'

'I have seen. At the time of ending, the Doctor's soul will be revealed.'

'What does that mean?'

'We will discover it together. Our final journey. Because the ending approaches. The testing begins,' Davros told him.

'Testing of what?'

'The Reality bomb. Behold. The apotheosis of my genius,' Davros said, activating a screen showing a holding area full of prisoners.

'Four, three, two, one, zero,' Red Dalek said. 'Activate planetary alignment field.'

The screen showed the twenty seven planets as they started to glow. 'That's Z-neutrino energy, flattened by the alignment of the planets into a single string,' the Doctor said. 'No, Davros. Davros, you can't! You can't! No!'

They watched in horror as the prisoners were gently atomised from the head downwards.

'Doctor, what happened?' Mickey asked.

Davros answered on his behalf. 'Electrical energy, Mr. Smith. Every atom in existence is bound by an electrical field. The Reality bomb cancels it out. Structure falls apart. That test was focused on the prisoners alone. Full transmission will dissolve every form of matter.'

Mickey realised what that meant. 'The stars are going out.'

'The twenty seven planets. They become one vast transmitter, blasting that wavelength,' the Doctor explained.

'Across the entire universe. Never stopping, never faltering, never fading. People and planets and stars will become dust, and the dust will become atoms, and the atoms will become nothing. And the wavelength will continue, breaking through the Rift at the heart of the Medusa Cascade into every dimension, every parallel, every single corner of creation. This is my ultimate victory, Doctor! The destruction of reality itself!' Davros declared.

'Incoming transmission. Origin Planet Earth,' a Dalek announced.

'Display!' Red Dalek ordered.

['This is Martha Jones, representing the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, on behalf of the human race. This message is for the Dalek Crucible. Repeat. Can you hear me?']

'Put me through,' the Doctor said.

'It begins As Dalek Caan foretold,' Davros claimed.

Dalek spoke excitedly. 'The Children of Time will gather.'

'Put me through!'

['Doctor! I'm sorry, I had to.']

'Oh, but the Doctor is powerless. My prisoner. State your intent,' Davros demanded.

['I've got the Osterhagen Key. Leave this planet and its people alone or I'll use it.']

'Osterhagen what? What's an Osterhagen Key?' the Doctor asked with a frown.

['There's a chain of twenty five nuclear warheads placed in strategic points beneath the Earth's crust. If I use the key, they detonate and the Earth gets ripped apart.']

'What? Who invented that? Well, someone called Osterhagen, I suppose. Martha, are you insane?'

['The Osterhagen Key is to be used if the suffering of the human race is so great, so without hope, that this becomes the final option.']

'That's never an option.'

['Don't argue with me, Doctor! Because it's more than that. Now, I reckon the Daleks need these twenty seven planets for something. But what if it becomes twenty six? What happens then? Daleks? Would you risk it?']

'She's good,' said Mickey. 'And hot!'

['Who's that?']

'My name's Mickey. Mickey Smith.'

'Second transmission, internal,' another Dalek reported

'Display,' Red Dalek said.

['Captain Jack Harkness, calling all Dalek boys and girls. Are you receiving me? Don't send in your goons, or I'll set this thing off.']

'He's still alive,' Mickey said in amazement.

'Captain, what are you doing?'

['I've got a Warp Star wired into the mainframe. I break this shell, the entire Crucible goes up.']

'You can't! Where did you get a Warp Star?'

['From me,'] Sarah Jane said. ['We had no choice. We saw what happened to the prisoners.']

Davros looked at the screen with his Dalek eye. 'Impossible. That face. After all these years.'

['Davros. It's been quite a while. Sarah Jane Smith. Remember?']

'Oh, this is meant to be. The circle of Time is closing. You were there on Skaro at the very beginning of my creation.'

['And I've learnt how to fight since then. You let the Doctor go, or this Warp Star, it gets opened.']

['I'll do it. Don't imagine I wouldn't,'] Jack confirmed.

'Now that's what I call a ransom,' Mickey joked as he looked at the Doctor. The Doctor was staring at the floor, his face a mask of sadness. 'Doctor?'

'And the prophecy unfolds,' Davros gloated.

'The Doctor's soul is revealed. See him. See the heart of him,' Dalek Caan declared.

Davros continued his taunt. 'The man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun. But this is the truth, Doctor. You take ordinary people and you fashion them into weapons. Behold your Children of Time, transformed into murderers. I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this.'

'They're trying to help,' the Doctor said quietly.

'Already I have seen them sacrifice today, for their beloved Doctor. The Earth woman who fell opening the Subwave Network.'

'Who was that?'

'Harriet Jones,' Mickey told him. 'She gave her life to get you here.'

'How many more? Just think. How many have died in your name? The Doctor. The man who keeps running, never looking back because he dare not, out of shame. This is my final victory, Doctor. I have shown you yourself.'

'Enough,' Red Dalek said. 'Engage defence zero five.'

['It's the Crucible or the Earth,'] Martha told them.

'Transmat engaged,' a Dalek announced.

['No!'] She dropped the key as the transmat snatched her away. Jack dropped the Warp Star as he and his group also vanished.

'I've got you. It's all right,' Jack told Martha as she rolled across the floor.

'Don't move, all of you. Stay still,' the Doctor called out, his hand touching the force field around him and lighting it up.

'Guard them!,' Davros commanded. 'On your knees, all of you. Surrender!'

'Do as he says,' the Doctor advised them.

'The final prophecy is in place. The Doctor and his children, all gathered as witnesses. Supreme Dalek, the time has come. Now, detonate the Reality bomb!'

'Activate planetary alignment field,' Red Dalek said. 'Universal Reality detonation in two hundred rels.'

'You can't, Davros! Just listen to me! Just stop!'

Davros started to laugh maniacally. 'Ah, ha, ha, ha! Nothing can stop the detonation. Nothing and no one!'

The Doctor heard it before anyone else, being acutely tuned to it. It was the sound of time and space warping out of shape. 'But that's . . .'

'Impossible!' Davros stated.

The TARDIS materialised and a glowing Rose appeared in the doorway.

Jack's mouth fell open in disbelief. 'Brilliant!'


	16. Journey's end

**Chapter 16**

 **Journey's End**

For Rose, inside the TARDIS, the noise of the exploding roundels was replaced by the beautiful singing. It seemed to be coming from the Doctor's spare hand. Rose knelt down and put her hand on the jar. Golden energy flowed out and around her from the jar. She could feel it coursing through her veins, seeking out that which had remained hidden since Satellite 5. The two energies found each other and merged, like yin and yang they swirled inside her until her eyes glowed with a golden light.

This was not the uncontrolled, unbalanced energy of the Time Vortex as it had been before. This was her yin, the energy of Bad Wolf, with his yang, the energy of the Doctor to balance it. This time, she was in control and it would not consume her.

['Rose. We are in danger,'] she heard the singing say in her head.

She stood up and placed her hand on the Time Rotor, causing it to grind up and down. Her body was enveloped in golden energy from the console. 'Hello Old Girl,' Rose said to the TARDIS. 'Nice to talk to you again.'

['Hello my little wolf cub, it's good to have you back.']

'Once again, our Love is in danger. It's his old enemy the Daleks. I need you to take me to him, and I'll need your help to defeat them.'

['Of course . . . hold tight.'] The TARDIS swayed as it made its way back to the Doctor. Rose heard a "clump" as it landed in the Vault. Rose walked down the ramp and opened the door, the console blazed with golden light behind her.

'Brilliant,' Jack said as she stepped out.

'Oh Rose, what have you done?' the Doctor asked her. 'Not again . . . please, not again.'

'Do not worry my love, the TARDIS is protecting me. I am in control this time.'

'What treachery is this from the wife of the Time Lord?' Davros asked as he raised his hand to point a mechanical finger at her. 'You were foolish to return.' A bolt of electrical energy arced from his finger towards Rose.

Rose raised her hand, and her eyes flashed with golden light as the electrical energy was reflected back to Davros. He jerked and shuddered in his life support chair, until Rose snapped her hand away.

'You have just got to be Davros,' she said. 'Shocking behaviour by the way.' She winked at the Doctor. Jack and Mickey laughed out loud.

'But that's . . . unbelievable,' the Doctor said.

'Exterminate her!' Davros demanded, and a number of Daleks closed in on her.

'Exterminate!' They screeched as beams of green energy shot towards her.

'NO!' the Doctor shouted in alarm.

But he needn't have worried. Rose batted the beams away with her hands as though they were annoying flies.

'Now, now you naughty boys. That's quite enough of that,' Rose told them, sweeping her hand in front of them.

'Weapons non-functional,' the Daleks said.

'Well, you wouldn't play nice, so I had to take your toys off you.'

'Detonation in twenty rels,' Red Dalek announced. 'Nineteen . . .'

'Stand witness, Time Lord,' Davros said. 'Stand witness, Time Lord Wife and humans. Your strategies have failed; the end of the universe has come.'

The Red Dalek continued its countdown. 'Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.' Everyone was watching the screen, and didn't notice Rose sweeping her arm again. An alarm sounded.

'System in shutdown,' a Dalek announced.

'Detonation negative,' said another.

'Explain. Explain. Explain!' Red Dalek demanded.

'I have closed all Z-neutrino relay loops,' Rose explained.

'But Rose, you should be burning up,' the Doctor told her.

'Last time, I had all the energy of the Time Vortex blazing through me, and the TARDIS did her best to protect me. This time, I've got you helping me as well.'

'Eh?' the Doctor frowned.

'You'll suffer for this,' Davros interrupted. He raised his finger again and sent a bolt of electricity, trying to catch her unawares. Rose rolled her eyes and held up her hand again, sending the bolt back at him.

'Argh!' Davros cried as he jerked again.

'For a mad genius, you really are a slow learner.' She dropped her hand again and carried on talking to her husband. 'I am using the surplus regeneration energy you siphoned off into the handy bio-matching receptacle. The TARDIS is channelling the energy of the Time Vortex through me, and your regeneration energy is helping me to regulate it.'

'Oh that is just brilliant!' he said with a big smile and caused the energy field to flash as he tried to reach out for her.

'Oh, hang on.' She swept her hand in front of her. 'Holding cells deactivated. And seal the Vault. Well, don't just stand there, get to work.' The Doctor ran to the control console.

'Stop them! Get them away from the controls,' Davros commanded.

The Daleks started to advance on the control console. 'I've told you once to play nice. Now go to your room.' Rose pushed her hand away from her, and the Daleks were pushed away by an invisible force.

'Help me. Help me!' the Daleks called out.

Rose grinned. 'Oh the universe has been waiting for me.'

'Ha!' the Doctor laughed and kissed her on her glowing cheek. 'Ooh,' he said, running his tongue around his lips. 'Tingly.'

Rose swept her arm again. 'System malfunction,' a Dalek announced.

'Motor casing interference,' another reported.

'What is happening? Explain!' Red Dalek called out.

'Come on then, Love. We've got twenty seven planets to send home. Activate magnetron.'

'Stop this at once!' Davros demanded.

Jack came out of the TARDIS carrying the plasma cannons they'd had in the street. 'Mickey!' he called, handing him a rifle.

'You will desist!' Davros told them.

Mickey pointed his gun at Davros, at point blank range. 'Just stay where you are, mister.'

'Ready?' the Doctor asked his wife. She nodded and grinned. 'And reverse.' They pulled out pairs of rods, and the planets disappeared one by one. 'Off you go, Clom.'

'Back home, Adipose Three,' Rose said.

'Shallacatop, Pyrovillia and the Lost Moon of Poosh. Sorted. Ha!' he said. 'We need more power!'

'Is anyone going to tell us what's going on?' Mickey asked.

Rose tried to explain. 'Well, it all started three years ago when I opened the TARDIS console to return to Satellite 5. Remember?'

'Yeah. How could I forget,' Mickey said. 'That was the Bad Wolf message.'

'She'd absorbed the whole of the Time Vortex,' the Doctor told him. 'I had to take it from her to save her life.'

Rose gave him a loving smile. 'He sacrificed one of his lives to save me, but some of the energy remained inside me, lying dormant. The Bad Wolf was asleep.' She reached out to hold his hand, and there was a crackle of energy that passed between them. It was the tingle they normally felt when they held hands, but it was magnified a hundredfold.

'Today, he poured all his regeneration energy into his spare hand. I touched the hand, and that energy passed to me, waking the Bad Wolf.'

'So, does that make you a Time Lord?' Sarah Jane asked.

'Two Doctors?' Mickey asked.

'I'm still human,' Rose told them. 'Just temporarily with a bit of Time Lord inside me.'

Jack gave her a cheeky grin. 'I can't tell you what I'm thinking right now.'

Rose flashed him a smile. 'Shut up.'

'You're so unique the timelines were converging on you,' the Doctor told her. 'Human being with Time Lord energy.'

'But you promised me, Dalek Caan. Why did you not foresee this?' Davros whined.

'Oh, I think he did. Something's been manipulating the timelines for ages, getting Rose Lungbarromas, nee Tyler to the right place at the right time,' the Doctor told him.

'This would always have happened. I only helped, Doctor,' Dalek Caan said.

'You betrayed the Daleks,' Davros accused.

'I saw the Daleks. What we have done, throughout time and space, I saw the truth of us, Creator, and I decreed, no more!'

'Heads up!' Jack called out as the Red Dalek descended into the Vault.

'Davros, you have betrayed us.'

'It was Dalek Caan.'

'The Vault will be purged. You will all be exterminated,' Red Dalek declared, and fired at the control console.

'Like I was saying, feel this!' Jack said and fired an extended pulse from his plasma cannon at the Red Dalek, causing it to explode.

'Oh, we've lost the magnetron,' the Doctor said. 'And there's only one planet left. Oh, guess which one. But we can use the TARDIS.'

The Doctor ran into the TARDIS, while Rose worked at the console. 'Holding Earth stability. Maintaining ATMOSpheric shell.'

'The prophecy must complete,' Dalek Caan said.

'Don't listen to him,' Davros told them.

'I have seen the end of everything Dalek, and you must make it happen, Rose.'

Rose looked up from the console. 'He's right. Because with or without a Reality bomb, this Dalek Empire's big enough to slaughter the cosmos. They've got to be stopped.'

'Just, just wait for the Doctor,' Mickey suggested.

Rose walked towards Davros. 'The Doctor can't do what needs to be done.'

'What are you doing?' Davros asked her. 'Stay away from me.'

Rose bent forward and embraced the frail Kaled. 'I see you, Dr. Vaso,' she whispered in his ear, using one of his aliases 'I know you Great Healer, and on behalf of my husband, I forgive you, Dark Lord of Skaro.'

'No! I do not need forgiveness, Everything I have done, has been for the good of the Dalek race.'

'And what I do now is for the good of the Dalek race,' Rose said as her golden glow increased in brightness. It became incandescent, and everyone covered their eyes, squinting to try and see what was happening.

The Doctor saw the dazzling light through the doorway, and went to investigate. At the door, he was hit by an impenetrable wall of light, and he could hear the wailing protestations of Davros, which seemed to change in pitch.

The intensity of the light started to fade, and everyone could see Rose standing in front of Davros's empty life support chair. She was no longer glowing, and a baby's cry could be heard. She turned around to reveal she was carrying a baby in her arms.

Dalek Caan laughed with glee. 'Hee, hee. The prophecy is complete. The child of Skaro is reborn.'

'What the hell . . ?' said Jack.

'Is that a baby?' Martha asked in disbelief.

The Doctor walked up to her. 'Rose. Is that who I think it is?'

Rose looked at him hesitantly, not sure if he would agree with what Bad Wolf had done. 'The Daleks had to be stopped, and I knew genocide was not an option. Then I remembered Margaret the Slitheen, and how the TARDIS turned her back into an egg.'

Sarah Jane touched the Doctor's arm to get his attention. 'Doctor. I remember when we were on Skaro, at the beginning. You asked me if someone who knew the future, pointed out a child to you and told you that that child would grow up totally evil, to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives, could you then kill that child?'

The Doctor looked at her, and then at the baby in Rose's arms. That was a dilemma that had haunted him for centuries.

'There is another way though,' Rose told them. 'What if you took the child out of the environment that turned them into a ruthless dictator? What then?'

'That baby in your arms may be insane at this very moment,' the Doctor told Rose. 'If that's the case, then no amount of nurturing will change that.' He looked into Rose's eyes and gave her a warm smile. 'But it's got to be worth a try.' He cupped her cheeks with his hands and kissed her lovingly on the lips.

'That is SO you,' Jack said with a big grin.

'Er, guys?' Mickey said. 'Have any of you seen any Daleks lately?'

They all looked around, and realised that they were alone in the Vault. 'They've gone!' Martha said.

'Uh-oh,' the Doctor said. 'They were never here more like.'

'Wha?' Mickey said in confusion.

'Think back to Dalek Caan's prophecy,' the Doctor told them.

'The child of Skaro is reborn,' Sarah Jane remembered.

'Exactly! Not regressed like Margaret, but reborn.'

'Oh I get it,' said Jack. 'Bad Wolf . . . sorry . . . Rose has used the Time Vortex to take Davros back to the moment of his birth.'

'That's right. He hasn't lived his life yet, so he was never here,' the Doctor explained. 'He hasn't created the Daleks, what am I talking about? He hasn't even filled a nappy yet.'

'Nappies!' Rose exclaimed, realising she was holding a naked baby that could "go off" at any moment. She held him away from her slightly, just in case.

Mickey gave him a lopsided smile. 'Hang on. If he was never here, and he never created the Daleks, how come the crucible is still here?'

Being a former Time Agent, Jack understood it. 'It's like "the year that never was" on the Valliant. We're at the epicentre of the paradox.'

'Yeah. The TARDIS is protecting us in a bubble of time, but I'm not sure how long she can hold it. We'd better get out of here, in the TARDIS! Everyone! All of you, inside! Run!'

The Doctor stood at the door and counted everyone in. 'In! In! In! In! Sarah Jane! Rose . . . with Baby Davros! Martha! Jack! Mickey!' He closed the door and ran up to the console. 'And off we go.'

The TARDIS dematerialised as the Time Rotor started to grind up and down. 'But what about the Earth? It's stuck in the wrong part of space,' Sarah Jane realised.

'I'm on it,' the Doctor told her, switching on the screen. 'Torchwood Hub, this is the Doctor. Are you receiving me?'

['Loud and clear,'] a young Welsh woman replied. ['Is Jack there?']

'Can't get rid of him.' Rose leaned over to look at the screen as well. 'Jack, what's her name?' the Doctor asked him.

'Gwen Cooper,' Jack said proudly.

'Tell me, Gwen Cooper; are you from an old Cardiff family?'

['Yes, all the way back to the eighteen hundreds.']

'Ah, thought so. Spatial genetic multiplicity,' he said to Rose.

'Oh, yeah,' she grinned.

'Yeah, it's a funny old world. Now, Torchwood, I want you to open up that Rift Manipulator. Send all the power to me.'

['Doing it now, sir,'] the Welshman said.

'What's that for?' Rose asked.

'It's a tow rope. Now then. Sarah Jane, what was your son's name?'

'Luke. He's called Luke. And the computer's called Mister Smith.'

'Calling Luke and Mister Smith. This is the Doctor. Come on, Luke. Shake a leg.'

['Is Mum there?'] A teenaged boy asked on the screen.

'Oh, she's fine and dandy.'

'Yes! Yes!' Sarah Jane called out with joy.

'Now, Mister Smith, I want you to harness the Rift power and loop it around the TARDIS. You got that?'

['I regret I will need remote access to TARDIS base code numerals,'] the warm, mechanical voice said.

'Oh, blimey, that's going to take a while.'

Sarah Jane moved around to the screen. 'No, no, no. Let me. K9, out you come!'

['Affirmative, Mistress.']

'Oh! Oh ho! Oh, good dog!' the Doctor said. 'K9, give Mister Smith the base code.'

['TARDIS base code now being transferred. The process is simple.']

'Now then, you lot,' the Doctor said in "manic mode".

'Sarah, hold that down.' He indicated a lever for her to hold, and moved to Mickey, who was standing to her left. 'Mickey, you hold that.'

'Because you know why this TARDIS is always rattling about the place?' he said as he continued his way around the console. 'Rose? That, there,' he said, leaning in close and stealing a quick kiss. Rose cradled Baby Davros in one arm, and held down a lever with the other hand.

'It's designed to have six pilots, and I have to do it single handed.'

He moved to the next segment. 'Martha, keep that level. But not any more.'

The next segment was occupied by Jack. 'Jack, there you go, steady that. Now we can fly this thing like it's meant to be flown. We've got the Torchwood Rift looped around the TARDIS by Mister Smith, and we're going to fly Planet Earth back home. Right then, off we go.'

They felt the TARDIS shudder slightly as it took the strain of the mass of the Earth, the pitch of the time rotor changed as it initially laboured to start the planet moving. The "Old Girl" was enjoying having all this company; all her old friends back again, just as much as they were. She started singing the Ood song of freedom, which permeated through everyone's consciousness, and gave them a feeling of euphoria.

'How's this working then Doc?' Jack asked.

'The Cardiff rift down there on the planet is feeding energy to the TARDIS, so that it can generate a powerful gravity well which the Earth can fall into. 'With the extra energy, the TARDIS can drag the Earth into the Time Vortex. Moving it thousands of light years in less than an hour.'

The TARDIS shuddered as the rift energy was released, and the Earth returned to its proper orbit around the sun. Everyone on board started to cheer, applaud, and then hug, it had been a remarkable journey, and they were all members of a special family now, the TARDIS family.

'Right then, who's up for a cuppa?' Rose asked the group. There was a chorus of yes's, and they all retired to the kitchen for a sit down and a catch up on all their gossip.

'There ya go, just how ya like it,' Rose said, handing the Doctor his tea in his favourite mug. Sarah Jane was sitting next to him, cradling Baby Davros and feeding him some warm milk in a bottle that the TARDIS had produced from the food replicator. He was wrapped in a nice warm blanket, and it seemed impossible that this cute infant could have been, or more accurately could become a ruthless dictator.

'What will you do with him?' she asked.

'Oh, I suppose we'll have to find a nice family to adopt him,' the Doctor said.

'Do they have to be aliens?'

'No, not particularly. Kaleds can easily pass for human. Why?'

'Because I know this couple who are looking to adopt,' Sarah Jane told him.

'Even though he could grow into the most evil person in the universe?'

'Well, any of us could do that . . . couldn't we Doctor? And if it's his second chance, I think we have an obligation to make it the best chance he's got.'

'Can't argue with that,' he said.

'I can contact the appropriate authorities,' Martha said. 'Being a doctor, and being in UNIT, I can pull a few strings.' She looked over at Mickey, and realised that he was smiling at her. She'd been looking at the rugged hunk ever since she'd seen him on the screen in the German bunker; it was time to make the introductions.

'Hi, Martha Jones,' she said, holding out her hand.

'Yeah, I remember. Mickey Smith,' he said, smiling and shaking her hand, he'd been wanting to make the acquaintance of the hot chick that had been eyeing him up across the console.

'I remember too,' she said with a saucy smile. 'So, how did you get roped into all this then?' Martha asked, as she shook his hand.

'Torchwood needed to find the Doctor to warn him about the darkness, and hope he could do somethin' about it.'

'You work for Torchwood?' Martha asked with interest.

'Yeah, in the parallel universe, I'm a Special Operations Field Agent.'

'Torchwood over here got closed down, there's only Jack's team in Cardiff now,' Martha told him.

'Yeah, we had somethin' to do with that at Canary Wharf,' Mickey said with a grin. 'And what about you, what's your part in all this?'

'I'm a doctor, working for UNIT, I used to travel with the Doctor, and just like you, I got the job of finding him.'

'You've travelled with him, when was that?' Mickey asked.

'Er, I think it was soon after the Canary Wharf incident,' she said, smiling coyly at him. 'So,' Martha started hesitantly. 'Is it back to Torchwood when we get back?'

'Oh, I don't know. I might hang around in this universe for a while. Looks kinda appealin' after bein' away for so long.'

'Hmm. That would be nice.'

All the teas and coffees had been drunk, friendships made or renewed, and it was time to start taking people home.

'Well, time's moving on,' the Doctor said, moving to the console and starting the time rotor.

'Says a man with a time machine,' Mickey said sarcastically.

'Yeah, thanks for pointing that out Mickey,' the Doctor said as people laughed. 'Right then, next stop Bannerman Road,' the Doctor announced as he set the coordinates.

'Oh, that's my stop,' Sarah Jane said, and then hesitated. 'That is Bannerman Road in London isn't it, not Aberdeen?' she asked. 'Only that one time, you did leave me in Aberdeen.'

Rose rolled her eyes and nudged him out of the way. 'Typical bloke, never think to ask for directions,' she said with a smirk.

She looked at the monitor. 'Ah, here we are, we'll be landin' in the park a few streets away.'

'Oh, like you know how to read a map,' the Doctor joked.

'You mister, are askin' for a slap,' Rose said with a lopsided smile. She set the coordinates and started the landing sequence. The Doctor walked over to Sarah Jane, where everyone was hugging her and saying goodbye. She took Baby Davros off Rose, walked down the ramp with the Doctor and stepped outside.

'You know, you act like such a lonely man,' she said. 'But look at you. You've got the biggest family on Earth.'

She gave him a big hug. 'Oh! Got to go. He's only fourteen. It's a long story . . . and thank you!'

Inside the TARDIS, Jack and Martha were preparing to leave, and he gave Rose a big hug. 'It's been so good to see you again . . . you look after him now, you hear?'

'Yeah, I will . . . and it's been good to see you too. I've missed you,' she said with a sigh, releasing the hug.

Martha returned the smile. 'Yeah. C'mon Jack time to go, UNIT will be here soon to give us a ride.'

Rose gave them a sad, half smile as she watched them walk out of the doors, before turning around and looking at Mickey. 'We never got a chance to catch up. I wanted to ask you about Mum and Dad, oh and the baby. Have I got a brother or a sister?'

'You've got a brother Babe. Tony, and he's three years old now . . . and we'll have plenty of time to catch up,' he told her.

'But how? We've got to get you back home to "Pete's World".'

'Well, Babe, I'm stayin' here,' he told her. 'I mean, it's been great an' all, and I've had some brilliant adventures workin' for Torchwood, but Gran's dead now . . . and, this universe looks quite appealin' at the moment,' he said with a lopsided smile.

'It's Martha, innit . . . you fancy your chances don't ya?' she said with a beaming smile.

'Er, she might have somethin' to do with it, yeah,' he grinned.

Rose hugged him around the neck and kissed him on the cheek. 'Good for you, go get her tiger.'

'Really, you think it's a good idea?' he asked her.

She had a big grin on her face. 'I think it's brilliant, and it means I'll be able to visit my best mate when we're in the area.'

They hugged again, and then he jogged down the ramp and out of the doors.

Outside the TARDIS, the Doctor was using his sonic on Jack's teleport bracelet. 'I told you, no teleport . . . and, Martha, get rid of that Osterhagen thing, eh? Save the world one more time,' he told her.

'Consider it done.'

Jack stood to attention and saluted the Doctor, even though he knew he didn't like people saluting him, he felt he had to pay him some tribute. Martha followed his lead and also saluted, feeling the same need to pay him some accolade for everything he had done.

The Doctor gave them a warm smile and touched his forehead to return the salute, appreciating their tribute. They turned, and started to walk up the path towards the park entrance.

'You know, I'm not sure about UNIT these days,' Jack told her. 'Maybe there's something else you could be doing?' Like work for Torchwood, maybe, he thought to himself.

Mickey came out of the TARDIS, walking past the Doctor.

'Oi, where are you going?' he asked Mickey. They would have to be going soon if they were going to get to "Pete's World" before the breach closed.

'Well, I'm not stupid; I can work out what happens next. And hey, I had a good time in that parallel world, but my gran passed away, nice and peaceful. She spent her last years living in a mansion. There's nothing there for me now,' he said.

So, he'd decided to stay. 'What will you do?'

'Anything,' he said, and he meant it. He wasn't the clueless car mechanic that had gone to stay in a parallel world. He was a man now, more mature and experienced. 'Brand new life . . . just you watch . . . See you, boss.

The Doctor held up his fist and Mickey bumped it, in their old, familiar style.

'Hey, you two!' Mickey called to Jack and the hot Martha as he ran to catch them up.

'Oh. Thought I'd got rid of you,' Jack said jokingly. Mickey put his arms around Jack's and Martha's shoulders, and Martha didn't mind that at all.

'Nah, not just yet Captain Cheesecake, I've come back to make my mark on this world,' he said with a grin.

'Hah! Mickey Mouse becomes Mighty Mouse,' Jack laughed.

The Doctor smiled and shook his head at his old friends, turning back to the TARDIS and going inside. He walked up the ramp and wrapped his arms around Rose, pulling her into a hug. He could tell she was thinking about something.

'Doctor . . . if the Daleks were never created,' she started. 'Does that mean there was never a Time War? Is your home still there? Are your people still alive?'

He tilted his head to one side, as though he was listening to a quiet voice. 'No, I can't feel them. Don't forget, the Daleks were time travellers as well, so they might turn up any where, any when. Hiding in a little quantum pocket, or a void ship.' He could feel she was emotional about that, and something else. 'You okay?'

'Yeah. I just found out I've got a little brother,' she said, wiping her eyes. 'And I'll never get to meet him.'

The Doctor released the hug, but kept his arm around her shoulder, guiding her to the screen. He tapped a few keys on the keyboard. 'Never say never, Rose.' he told her. 'I can give you a few hours if you want to see them.'

'Wha?' she said in amazement.

'The breach caused by the focussed Z-neutrino energy is still closing. We can nip through and land in the mansion.'

'Oh God. That would be brilliant,' she cried.'

He gave her a big grin. 'Right then, next stop "Pete's World".'


	17. The Day of the Doctor

**Chapter 17**

 **The Day of the Doctor**

Pete Tyler was sitting at his desk in his study, going over paperwork from his Vitex company, of which he was CEO, and from the Torchwood Institute, of which he was Director. He heard a noise coming from down the hallway, and thought the central heating must be playing up. He'd have to get his maintenance man to bleed the radiators. When the noise became more distinct, he realised he'd heard it before. Nearly ten years ago now, at Lambeth Pier.

He stood up and went to the door, when he heard his wife scream from the living room. 'JACKIE?!' He ran down the hallway and into the living room, and skidded to a halt. There in front of him was the blue wooden box from Lambeth Pier, and standing in front of it was his wife, sobbing and hugging her daughter, their daughter.

'Oh Rose, Sweetheart! I don't believe it! It is you! It is you! It is you!'

'Bless you,' the Doctor said with a grin as he stepped out of the TARDIS.

'Oh, an' it's you an' all!' she wailed. 'Come here.' She grabbed the Doctor in a grateful hug. 'Thank you for bringin' her back.'

'Er, it's only a visit,' he said quickly, hoping she realised that it wasn't permanent.

Jackie hugged Rose again. 'I know, I know. But I thought you couldn't cross universes.'

'It's the Darkness, isn't it?' Pete said.

The Doctor nodded. 'Yeah, it was. We've sorted it, and the breach is closing. I brought the TARDIS through and jumped back a few hours to now, so that Rose can spend some time with you before it closes.'

Pete shook his hand and pulled him into a hug, slapping his back as he did. 'That's very good of you Doctor. We appreciate that.'

'Do I get one of those . . . Dad?' Rose asked, wiping the tears from her eyes with a tissue. The last few times they had met, Pete hadn't been able to accept that she was his daughter. Well, she wasn't really, but she had his DNA, which made her his daughter. It was all a bit wibbly-wobbly.

'Oh Sweetheart, come here.' She rushed to him and fell into his arms. 'Like I said before, in that phone call, I am so sorry for how I treated you.' He kissed her hair.

'Hey,' she cried. 'That's okay, Dad. I'm here now in your arms.'

Jackie went over to them and hugged them both as they all wept.

The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck. 'Blimey. I thought it was going to be a happy reunion.'

Rose laughed through the tears. 'We are happy, you numpty. This is us bein' happy.'

He grinned at them. 'I'd hate to see you when you're sad.'

'Mummy, is everything all right?' a little voice said from the doorway.

They looked, and saw a small, blonde haired boy peeking nervously around the door.

'Oh Tony, Sweetheart. Come on in, everythin's fine. There's someone here to see you,' Jackie said, beckoning him over. Tony walked over to them, and held Jackie's hand for reassurance. Rose stooped down to be on the same level as him.

'Do you know who this is, Sweetheart?' Jackie asked him. He shook his head. 'Do you remember me tellin' ya about your sister and the mad alien?'

'Mad alien?' the Doctor said indignantly. Rose looked up at him and snorted a laugh.

'Well, this is them,' Jackie told him.

'Wha? They're real? You're my sister, Rose?' Tony asked.

Rose nodded, temporarily too overcome with emotion to speak. 'Hello Tony,' she squeaked. 'Yeah, I'm your big sister.'

He let go of his mother's hand and ran to his sister, hugging her tight around the neck. Rose returned the hug and stood up, lifting him off the floor. As she rubbed his back with her left hand, Jackie noticed something on her finger.

'What's that on yer finger?' Jackie asked.

'Ah, yes. I was coming to that,' the Doctor said awkwardly, not sure how Jackie would take the news. 'We, er, sort of . . . got married.'

Jackie was silent as she looked at him, and he was furiously trying to interpret her expression. He had never been able to figure Jackie out. Was she upset that she hadn't been at the wedding? Not that she could have been at the wedding, but, well, you know what he meant. Was she mad that he had had the audacity to ask her daughter to marry him? Was she angry that her daughter had married a mad alien?

A smile started at the edges of her mouth, and spread across her face. 'About bloody time,' she said and pulled him into a hug.

'Hah! Well done old man,' Pete said, slapping him on the back, and shaking his hand. 'Come on, let's sit down, I'll order the tea, and you can tell us all about it.'

'Oh I can do better than that,' the Doctor said, taking out his sonic screwdriver. 'Do you have Wi-Fi?'

'Of course.'

'Brilliant! I'll upload the video and pictures.'

'There's one more thing Mum,' Rose said. 'I'm pregnant.'

* * *

Rose lay back on the sumptuous pillows, popped a grape into her mouth and looked up at the fluffy clouds drifting lazily by. She did that thing that she used to do as a child with her friend Shareen, and made shapes out of the clouds. At present, there was a misshapen rhinoceros reversing to the east.

For the last couple of weeks now, she'd felt as though something had changed in her, and that she had made the transition from a carefree girl into a mature young woman.

It had been a couple of weeks since she had seen her family for what she presumed was the last time, and she remembered that for most of that meeting they had been in tears, but in a good way. They had stayed for the best part of the day, and just managed to squeeze through the last crack in the universe on the beach at Dårlig Ulv Stranden.

Later in the day on the TARDIS, the Doctor told her that he had managed to repair her favourite burgundy dress, something about molecular reorganisation of the microscopic matrix. She was delighted, and he took her to London in 1851 to celebrate Christmas as a way of trying to cheer her up.

As usual, it hadn't quite worked out as they had planned, as they had to help a man called Jackson Lake remember who he was and find his son. Oh, and they had to save London from the Cybermen. But eventually, they had a very nice Christmas lunch with Jackson and his son Frederick, but sadly not with his wife Caroline, who had been killed by the Cybermen.

They had left 1851, and ended up in 2009 London, on the number 200 to Victoria. It never got to Victoria though, as it had gone into the Gladwell Road Tunnel, and came out on the desert world of San Helios. The Doctor had detected Rhondium particles (whatever they were) with one of his cobbled together gizmos.

"The Doctor just loves building his little gizmos", she thought with a smile.

They had met Lady Christina de Souza, and although she was posh, and a thief, Rose couldn't help but like her. She was brave and resourceful, and with her help they had managed to get the wrecked bus back to London.

She popped another grape in her mouth. They were delicious. Well, they would be, they were fit for a queen. It was another of her husband's gizmos that had brought them here, to London in 1562. The TARDIS had detected anomalous energy readings from the time period, and they had landed to investigate.

Rose heard the galloping of a horse, and looked over to the TARDIS, to see the Doctor ride out through the doors on a white steed, with Queen Elizabeth sitting behind him, holding on for dear life.

'Allons-y! There you go, your Majesty, what did I tell you? Bigger on the inside,' he said, as he trotted over to join Rose.

'The door isn't. You nearly took my head off. It's normally me who does that,' she laughed.

The Doctor jumped down, and helped Elizabeth down to the ground. They then joined Rose at the sumptuous picnic. 'Tell me, Doctor, Mistress Rose, why am I wasting time with you. I have wars to plan.'

'You have a picnic to eat,' he told her, popping one of the delicious grapes into her mouth.

'All war and no play, makes your majesty a dull . . . monarch?' Rose said, not sure the rhyme had travelled well. The Doctor snorted a laugh.

'You could help me,' Elizabeth said.

'Well, I'm helping you eat the picnic.'

'But you have a stomach for war. This face has seen conflict, it's as clear as day.'

'Oh, I've seen conflict like you wouldn't believe. But it wasn't this face.'

'And you Rose, you are dressed for adventure but your eyes hide tragedy.'

'You can say that again,' the Doctor said, waggling his eyebrows.

Rose had decided to forego the Elizabethan dresses, appealing as they were, and had gone more for what the Doctor had called the "Emma Peel" look from the Avengers. She was wearing tight leather trousers, leather basque, a short leather jacket, and knee high boots. Her pregnancy wasn't showing yet, and she carried off the look rather well. Her husband definitely thought so.

'But never mind that, your Majesty. Up on your feet. You too Rose. Up, up.' He reached out, took their hands, and pulled them to their feet.

'Doctor! You can't talk to the Queen like that,' Rose told him.

'How dare you? I'm the Queen of England,' Elizabeth said.

'I'm not English,' he reminded her. He went down on one knee, and reached up to pull Rose down onto one knee. 'Oh, sorry. Can you get on one knee in those tight trousers?'

She playfully slapped his arm. 'Shut up! Of course I can.'

He took the Queen's hand. 'Elizabeth, we offer you our allegiance and I would ask you to make Rose your confidante, and me your advisor, and personal protector.'

'How very forward of you, Lord Doctor,' she said with a smirk.

'Yeah, he's full of himself all right,' Rose said with a smile. 'But you'll find none better Ma'am.'

'Oh, my dear sweet loyal subjects. Of course I will,' she said.

'Ah, gotcha!' the Doctor said, standing up and pointing a finger at the Queen.

'My Lord?'

'One, the real Elizabeth would never have accepted my proposal to be her advisor and protector. She would have selected her own after much debate. Two, the real Elizabeth would notice when I just casually mentioned having a different face. But then the real Elizabeth isn't a shape-shifting alien from outer space. And . . .' He took a clockwork gizmo out of his jacket pocket and held it out towards her. The gizmo obediently went "ding".

'Ding,' he said, just to confirm what the gizmo had done.

'What's that?' Elizabeth asked.

'It's a machine that goes ding. Made it myself. Lights up in the presence of shape-shifter DNA. Ooh. Also it can microwave frozen dinners from up to twenty feet and download comics from the future. I never know when to stop.'

'My Lord, I do not understand.'

'Doctor?' Rose said quietly, but he was on a roll.

'I'm not your Lord, and yes you do. You're a Zygon.'

'A Zygon?' Elizabeth hadn't heard of a country called Zygo.

'Doctor!' Rose said a little more forcefully.

'Oh, stop it. It's over. A Zygon, yes. Big red rubbery thing covered in suckers. Think the real Queen of England would just decide to share her secrets and security with any old handsome bloke in a tight suit, just cos he's got amazing hair and a nice horse . . ? Oh.'

'It's the horse,' Rose told him, as he saw a big red rubbery thing covered in suckers, standing where the white horse had been standing moments before.

'It was the horse,' he echoed. 'I'm going to be William Cecil,' he realised. 'Run!'

'You protect the Queen,' Rose said. 'I'll draw him away.'

He grabbed the Queen's hand and ran across the meadow. Rose made off in another direction to try and draw the Zygon away from Elizabeth.

'What's happening?' she asked him as they ran towards a derelict crofter's cottage.

'We're being attacked by a shape-shifting alien from outer space, formerly disguised as my horse.'

Elizabeth hadn't got a clue what he was talking about. 'What does that mean?'

They ran into the ruins of the cottage and peeped through the doorway. 'It means we're going to need a new horse.'

'Where's it going?'

Rose ran in through the back of the ruins. 'I led it off towards the woods.'

'Good girl. We'll hold it off. You run. Your people need you.'

'And I need you alive for my court. With your permission Mistress Rose.' She kissed him on the cheek and ran out of the ruins.

The Doctor and Rose ran off in the direction that she had lured the Zygon. His gizmo was dinging a lot.

'Where's it gone?' Rose asked as they ran between the trees.

'It could be anywhere. It may have changed shape,' he told her, as they ran past a rabbit. 'Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Oh, very clever.'

'No! Really?' Rose said in disbelief.

'Whatever you've got planned, forget it. I'm the Doctor. I'm nine hundred and four years old. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I am the Oncoming Storm, the Bringer of Darkness . . . and you are basically just a rabbit, aren't you?' Rose had a fit of the giggles. 'Okay, carry on. Just a general warning.'

'Doctor!' they heard Elizabeth cry out.

'Elizabeth!' he called back, and they ran through the woods in the direction of her cries. They found her lying on the ground.

'That thing. Explain what it is. What does it want of us?' Elizabeth asked.

'That's what I'm trying to find out. Probably just your planet,' he told her.

'Doctor. Step away from her, Doctor. That's not me. That's the creature,' said another Elizabeth walking towards them.

'Oh great. Now there's two of 'em,' Rose said.

'How is that possible? She's me. Doctor, she's me!' the Elizabeth on the ground said.

The Doctor was trying to use his gizmo.

'I am indeed me,' the second Elizabeth said. 'A compliment that cannot be extended to yourself.'

'Extraordinary. The creature has captured my exact likeness. This is exceptional.'

'Exceptional? A Queen would call it impertinent.'

'A Queen would feel compelled to admire the skill of the execution, before arranging one.'

'Oh this is like listenin' to someone arguin' with themselves. Can't that thing tell them apart?' Rose said.

The Doctor was thumping the gizmo. 'It's not working.'

'One might surmise that the creature would learn quickly to protect itself from any simple means of detection,' the first Elizabeth suggested.

'Clearly you understand the creature better than I. But then, you have the advantage,' the second Elizabeth countered.

Suddenly, a swirling vortex appeared in the air.

'Back, all of you, now!' the Doctor said. Rose went and stood by his side. 'That's a time fissure. A tear in the fabric of reality. Anything could happen.'

A red fez dropped to the ground, and Rose picked it up. 'What, like a fez?'

She put the fez on his head and adjusted it to a jaunty angle. 'Hmm. That's kinda cute.'

A body fell out of the time fissure with an "Oof!"

'Who is this man?' the first Elizabeth asked.

'That's just what I was wondering,' the Doctor said.

'Oh, that is skinny. That is proper skinny,' the stranger said, turning sideways to compare his body with the Doctor's. 'I've never seen it from the outside. It's like a special effect.' He realised that the Doctor was wearing the fez. 'Oi!' He knocked the fez to the ground. 'Ha! Matchstick man.'

'You're not?!' the Doctor said in realisation.

'Not what?' Rose asked. 'Who is he?'

They both reached inside their jackets and slowly took out their sonic screwdrivers. The stranger's sonic was bigger and more elaborate than the Doctor's. And Rose thought it looked vaguely familiar.

'Compensating?' the Doctor asked.

'For what?'

'Regeneration . . . It's a lottery.'

'Oh, he's cool. Isn't he cool? I'm the Doctor and I'm all cool,' the stranger taunted. 'Oops, I'm wearing sandshoes.'

'Regeneration?' Rose asked, and then realised who the stranger must be. 'Oh my God . . . it's you . . . I mean future you!'

The stranger noticed Rose for the first time, and his sad eyes had a look of longing in them. 'Oh Rose,' he whispered, and then cleared his throat, regaining his composure. 'Er, hello. How are you?'

She looked between her husband and the stranger. 'Don't you know?'

'Well, yes. Of course I do. No, actually I don't. I was just trying the normal human social interaction.'

'What are you doing here?' the Doctor interrupted. 'I'm busy.'

'Oh, busy. I see. Is that what we're calling it, eh? Eh?' he said cheekily, putting on his fez and turning to the two Elizabeths. 'Hello, ladies,' he said with a bow.

'Don't start,' the Doctor warned him.

'Listen, what you get up to in the privacy of your own regeneration is your business.'

'Oi! Watcha mean by that?' Rose asked him.

'One of them is a Zygon,' the Doctor explained.

'Urgh. I'm not judging you,' his future self said.

'He's married!' Rose reminded him indignantly.

'I'm married!' the Doctor echoed.

The time fissure fluctuated and they both put on their glasses to inspect it more closely, suddenly noticing each other.

'Oh, lovely,' they said together, and Rose rolled her eyes.

The Eleventh Doctor turned to the Elizabeths. 'Your Majesties. Probably a good time to run.'

'But what about the creature?' they asked.

'Elizabeth, whichever one of you is the real one, turn and run in the opposite direction to the other one,' the Doctor said.

'Of course, Doctor,' they said together.

'Stay alive, Lord and Mistress. I am not done with you yet.' She squeezed Rose's hand and kissed the Doctor before running away.

'Thanks. Lovely,' the Doctor said.

'I understand,' the second Elizabeth said. 'Live for me, Doctor, Rose. We shall meet again.' She also squeezed Rose's hand and kissed the Doctor before running away in the opposite direction.

'Well, won't that be nice?' Rose said sarcastically.

'One of those was a Zygon?' the Eleventh Doctor asked.

'Yeah,' the Doctor confirmed.

'Big red rubbery thing covered in suckers?' Eleven asked, just to make sure they were talking about the same species.

'Yeah,' Rose said.

'Venom sacs in the tongue?'

'Yeah, I'm getting the point, thank you,' the Doctor said.

'Nice.'

['Doctor, is that you?'] A young woman's voice called out from the time fissure.

'Ah, hello, Clara. Can you hear me?' Eleven called back.

'Who's that?' Rose asked her husband, wondering what her husband in the future was doing with another woman.

'I don't know! I've not met this one before.'

'This one? You mean you've met your other selves before?'

'Oh yeah. A few times actually . . . It's always what you'd imagine an Addams family get together to be like.'

['Yeah, it's me. We can hear you. Where are you?'] Clara said.

'Where are we?' Eleven asked the Doctor.

'England, 1562.'

['Who are you talking to?']

'Myself,' the two Doctors said together.

['Can you come back through?'] Another woman asked.

'Physical passage may not be possible in both directions. Its . . . Ah!' Eleven had an idea, and took the hat off his head. 'Hang on. Fez incoming!' He threw the hat into the fissure, and they waited for a reply.

['Nothing here,'] Clara said.

'So where did it go?' Rose asked them.

'Okay, you used to be me; you've done all this before. What happens next?' the Doctor enquired.

'I don't remember,' Eleven said.

'How can you forget this?' the Doctor asked in disbelief.

'Hey, hang on. It's not my fault. You're obviously not paying enough attention,' Eleven replied.

'Maybe,' Rose wondered. 'The time fissure is causing you both to experience the same moment in time, at the same moment in time.'

They frowned at each other, looked at Rose with raised eyebrows, and then smiled at each other.

'She's still good then,' Eleven said.

'Oh yes!' the Doctor agreed proudly. 'The best.'

'Let's try to reverse the polarity!' Eleven suggested.

They both aimed their sonic screwdrivers at the fissure and activated them.

'It's not working,' Eleven said.

'We're both reversing the polarity,' the Doctor told him with his "dribbled down his shirt" tone of voice.

'Yes, I know that,' Eleven replied as though it should have been obvious.

The Doctor waved his sonic. 'There's two of us. I'm reversing it, you're reversing it back again. We're confusing the polarity.'

While they were arguing, another body dropped through the time fissure. It was an elderly man, who gave Rose a puzzled look.

'Oh don't tell me that's another one of ya!' Rose exclaimed.

'Anyone lose a fez?' the old man said in a posh, gravelly voice, holding out the red hat.

'You!' the Doctor said in surprise. 'How can you be here? More to the point, why are you here?'

'Good afternoon. I'm looking for the Doctor.'

'Well, you've certainly come to the right place,' the Doctor told him.

'Good. Right. Well, who are you boys?' he said, ignoring Rose as though he already knew who she was. 'Oh, of course. Are you his companions?'

'His companions?' Eleven said incredulously.

'They get younger all the time. Well, if you could point me in the general direction of the Doctor?'

They both took their sonic screwdrivers out of their pockets, and Rose couldn't help but laugh at the expression on the old man's face.

'Really?' he asked.

'Yeah,' Eleven said.

'Really,' the Doctor agreed.

'You're me? Both of you?'

'Yep,' the Doctor said again.

'Even that one?' he said, nodding at Eleven.

'Yes!' Eleven said indignantly.

'You're my future selves?' the old man asked again, obviously having problems believing it.

'YES!' they shouted.

'Am I having a midlife crisis?' He stepped towards them, and they held out their sonic screwdrivers at him. 'Why are you pointing your screwdrivers like that? They're scientific instruments, not water pistols. Look like you've seen a ghost.'

'Still, loving the posh gravelly thing,' the Doctor said. 'It's very convincing.'

'Brave words, Dick van Dyke,' Eleven said to the Doctor.

A troop of soldiers ran up to them, lead by a nobleman. 'Encircle them,' he commanded, and the pikemen did. The two Doctors held out their sonic screwdrivers as if to defend themselves. 'Which of you is the Doctor? The Queen of England is bewitched. I would have the Doctor's head.'

'Well, this has all the makings of your lucky day,' the old man told him.

['I think there's three of them now,] they heard Clara say in the fissure.

['There's a precedent for that,'] the other woman said.

'What is that?' the nobleman asked nervously.

'Oh, the pointing again,' the old man said in annoyance. 'They're screwdrivers! What are you going to do, assemble a cabinet at them?'

'That thing, what witchcraft is it?' the nobleman asked.

Eleven had an idea. 'Ah, yes. Now that you mention it, that is witchcraft. Yes, yes, yes. Witchy witchcraft. Hello? Hello in there. Excuse me. Hello! Am I talking to the wicked witch of the well?'

['He means you,'] the other woman prompted Clara.

['Why am I the witch?'] She asked.

'Clara?' Eleven called through the fissure.

['Hello?']

'Clara, hi, hello. Hello. Would you mind telling these prattling mortals to get themselves begone?' Eleven asked her.

['What he said.']

'Yes, tiny bit more colour.'

They heard Clara huff. ['Right. Prattling mortals, off you pop, or I'll turn you all into frogs.']

'Ooh, frogs. Nice. You heard her,' Eleven said.

['Doctor, what's going on?'] Clara asked.

'It's a timey-wimey thing,' Eleven told her.

'Timey what? Timey-wimey?' the old man asked.

'I've no idea where he picks that stuff up,' the Doctor whispered to the old man.

'The Queen. The Queen,' the soldiers hailed, kneeling as Elizabeth walked into the clearing.

'You don't seem to be kneeling. How tremendously brave of you,' she told the group of time travellers.

'Which one are you?' the Doctor asked.

'What happened to the other one?' Rose asked.

'Indisposed,' Elizabeth told them. 'Long live the Queen.'

'Long live the Queen,' the soldiers echoed obediently.

'Arrest these people. Take them to the Tower.'

The Doctor pointed at Elizabeth. 'That is not the Queen of England, that's an alien duplicate.'

'And you can take it from him, cos he's really checked,' Eleven added helpfully.

'No he hasn't!' Rose said.

'Oh, shut up, the Doctor said to Eleven.

'Venom sacs in the tongue,' Eleven continued.

The Doctor was losing his temper now. 'Seriously, stop it.'

Eleven then realised what Elizabeth had said. 'No, hang on. The Tower. Did you say the Tower? Ah, yes, brilliant. Love the Tower. Breakfast at eight, please. Will there be Wi-Fi?'

The old Doctor frowned at him. 'Are you capable of speaking without flapping your hands about?'

'Yes,' Eleven said, flapping his hands. 'No. I demand to be incarcerated in the Tower immediately with my co-conspirators Sandshoes, Barbarella, and Granddad.

'Barbarella?' Rose said indignantly. If she looked like anyone, it was Emma Peel, surely.

'Granddad?'

'They're not sandshoes,' the Doctor told him.

'Yes, they are,' the old Doctor confirmed.

'Actually, they're called Converse,' Rose informed them.

'Well there we are then.' Eleven said smugly. 'The converse of not sandshoes, is sandshoes.'

Elizabeth had heard enough. 'Silence. The Tower is not to be taken lightly. Very few emerge again.'

 **A dungeon.**

 **The Tower of London.**

'Come on, you lot, get in there,' the gaoler said, pushing them roughly into the dungeon.

'OW!' the old Doctor said.

The gaoler left, shutting the door behind him. Eleven found an old metal nail in the straw on the floor and started scratching on a stone pillar. 'Three Doctors and a wife in one cell? That's going to cause some nasty anomalies if we don't get out soon.'

'Wife?' the old Doctor said with a puzzled frown.

'Yeah. I'm his wife,' she said, nodding at the Doctor.'

'So you must be . . . what did she say her name was? Rose Tyler.'

She waved at him with her fingers. 'Hello.' She presumed it was his age that was making him a bit feeble minded.

The Doctor and Eleven frowned at each other and then looked at the old Doctor. 'How could you possibly know her name?'

Rose had the weirdest feeling that someone had entered the room. But it wasn't just anyone; it was . . . she couldn't explain it. It was like catching a glimpse of your reflection in a window. The old Doctor seemed to be looking at her and someone standing next to her with a look of wonder on his face.

['Oh! I wasn't expecting her!'] The Moment told the old Doctor, unseen and unheard by everyone else. The Moment was standing next to Rose, leaning against the pillar and holding a finger to her lips. To the old Doctor, it was like looking at twins.

'I think you'd call it timey-wimey,' he chuckled.

Eleven went back to scratching his message while the Doctor watched. 'What are you doing?'

'Getting us out.'

The old Doctor started using his sonic screwdriver on the wooden door.

Like Rose, the Doctor was starting to think age had caught up with the old warrior. 'The sonic won't work on that, it's too primitive.'

'Shall we ask for a better quality of door so we can escape?' Eleven asked sarcastically.

'Okay, so the Queen of England is now a Zygon,' the Doctor started to think out loud. 'But never mind that. Why are we all together? Why are we all here? Well, me and Chinny, we were surprised,' he said, pointing at Eleven over his shoulder, as he addressed the old Doctor. 'But you came looking for us. You knew it was going to happen. Who told you?'

The Moment put her finger to her lips again.

'Oi . . . Chinny?' Eleven protested.

'Actually, you do have a bit of a chin,' Rose told him as he continued to scratch his message.

'In theory, I can trigger an isolated sonic shift among the molecules, and the door should disintegrate,' the old Doctor said.

The Doctor looked at the door. 'We'd have to calculate the exact harmonic resonance of the entire structure down to a sub-atomic level. Even the sonic would take years.'

'No, no, the sonic would take centuries,' the old Doctor said, sitting down. 'Oh, we might as well get started. Help to pass the timey-wimey . . . Do you have to talk like children? What is it that makes you so ashamed of being a grown up? Oh, the way you both look at me. What is that? I'm trying to think of a better word than dread.'

'It must be really recent for you,' the Doctor said.

The old Doctor frowned at him. 'Recent?'

'The Time War. The last day. The day you killed them all,' Eleven reminded him. "It must be his age", he thought.

'The day WE killed them all,' the Doctor corrected him.

'Same thing,' said Eleven.

The old Doctor seemed to be listening to someone by his side. They presumed it was his age. ['It's history for them. All decided. They think their future is real. They don't know it's still up to you.']

'I don't talk about it,' he said out loud.

'You're not talking about it,' the Doctor told him as though he were talking to an absent minded old uncle. 'There's no one else here.'

['Go on, ask them. Ask them what you need to know,'] the Moment prompted him.

'Did you ever count?' the old Doctor asked them.

'Count what?' Eleven enquired.

'How many children there were on Gallifrey that day?'

Eleven stopped scratching his message. 'I have absolutely no idea.'

'How old are you now?'

'Ah, I don't know. I lose track. Twelve hundred and something, I think, unless I'm lying. I can't remember if I'm lying about my age, that's how old I am.'

Rose gasped at that information. Her husband was nine hundred and four years old, which meant to this Doctor, she had been dead for around three hundred years.

'Four hundred years older than me, and in all that time you've never even wondered how many there were? You never once counted?'

The assumed allegation annoyed Eleven 'Tell me, what would be the point?'

'Two point four seven billion,' the Doctor said quietly.

'You did count!' the old Doctor said with delight.

The Doctor glared at Eleven. 'You forgot? Four hundred years, is that all it takes?' Rose could feel his pain, his sorrow . . . his guilt. She went over and held his hand in a simple act of support.

'I moved on.'

'Where? Where can you be now that you can forget something like that?'

'Spoilers,' is all Eleven would say.

'No. No, no, no. For once I would like to know where I'm going.'

'No, you really wouldn't.'

'I don't know who you are, either of you,' the old Doctor said sadly. 'I haven't got the faintest idea.' He then seemed to be listening to that internal voice.

['They're you. They're what you become if you destroy Gallifrey. The man who regrets and the man who forgets. The moment is coming. The Moment is me. You have to decide.']

'No!' the old Doctor exclaimed.

'No?' the Doctor asked, not sure what he was saying no to.

'Just . . . no.'

The Doctor leaned towards Eleven conspiratorially. 'Y'know, it's not until you're on the outside that you realise how overdue that regeneration was.'

'Who does he turn into?' Rose asked. The Doctor pulled his ears out and had a daft grin on his face. 'Really?'

Eleven laughed to himself.

'Is something funny? Did I miss a funny thing?' the Doctor asked him.

'Sorry. It just occured to me. This is what I'm like when I'm alone.'

['It's the same screwdriver. Same software, different case'] the Moment said.

'Four hundred years,' the old Doctor realised.

The Doctor was seriously concerned that the old Doctor was losing the plot. No wonder he pressed the button and ended the Time War 'I'm sorry?'

'At a software level, they're all the same device, aren't they. Same software, different case.'

'Yeah.'

'So?' Eleven asked, wondering where this was going.

'So, it would take centuries for the screwdriver to calculate how to disintegrate the door. Scanning the door, implanting the calculation as a permanent subroutine in the software architecture and, if you really are me, with your sandshoes and your dickie bow, and that screwdriver is still mine, that calculation is still going on.'

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and listened to it. 'Yeah, still going.'

Eleven took out his and did the same. 'Calculation complete.'

['Same software, different face,'] the Moment said, indicating that the Doctor was similar to his screwdriver.

'Hey, four hundred years in four seconds. We may have had our differences, which is frankly odd in the circumstances, but, I tell you what, boys. We are incredibly clever,' Eleven bragged.

Rose crossed her arms and gave them a lopsided smile. 'Odd? I don't think it's odd at all. You're like a bunch of squabblin' siblin's.'

The door burst open, and a young woman in a red dress and leather jacket nearly fell into the dungeon.

'How did you do that?' Eleven asked.

'It wasn't locked,' she said.

'Right.' Eleven said, slightly embarrassed.

'Hang on,' Rose said, turning to the old Doctor. 'You scanned the entire door down to its sub-atomic level, an' you never even noticed it wasn't locked?' The old Doctor shrugged apologetically and sighed.

'So they're both you, then, yeah?' Clara asked Eleven.

'Yes. You've met them before. Don't you remember?'

'A bit,' she said uncertainly. 'Nice suit,' she said to the Doctor.

'Thanks,' he said with a charming smile.

'And I am loving the leather look,' she said to Rose.

Rose ran her hands down her leather jacket and trousers. 'Oh, thanks.' She nodded her head sideways towards her husband. 'He loves it.'

The young woman then looked at the men and frowned. 'Hang on. Three of you in one cell, and none of you thought to try the door?'

'It should have been locked,' the old Doctor said.

'I'm with her,' Rose said. 'Forget the molecules. The first thing I'd have scanned was the lock.' She went over to the young woman who was smiling at her. 'Rose. I'm married to that numpty there,' she said pointing to the Doctor.

'Clara,' the young woman replied, shaking Rose's hand. 'And I travel with that numpty there.'

The Doctor and Eleven looked at each other. 'Numpty?'

Then Eleven asked a very good question. 'Yes. Exactly. It should have been locked. So why wasn't it?'


	18. The Doctor's Day

**Chapter 18**

 **The Doctor's Day**

Queen Elizabeth I was sitting in a comfortable study, waiting for Lord Bentham to report back to her on what the Doctor, Rose, and their two companions had been up to once they had left the dungeon. It was fair to say that she wasn't expecting the report that he delivered.

'A flash of light?' she asked.

'Yes, your Majesty. And then there was a near naked young lady in the passage who wasn't there previously.'

'Show me,' she commanded, and followed him to the dungeon.

'I'm with her,' she heard Rose say as she approached the door. 'Forget the molecules. The first thing I'd have scanned was the lock . . . Rose. I'm married to that numpty there.'

She then heard a new voice. It must have been the near naked young lady Bentham had mentioned. 'Clara, and I travel with that numpty there.'

'Numpty?' she heard the Doctor and the younger of his two companions say.

'Yes. Exactly. It should have been locked. So why wasn't it?'

Elizabeth entered the dungeon. 'Because I was fascinated to see what you would do upon escaping. I understand you're rather fond of this world. It's time I think you saw what's going to happen to it.'

Elizabeth took them along a number of passages until she came to a larger dungeon that was filled with futuristic equipment. 'The Zygons lost their own world. It burnt in the first days of the Time War. A new home is required.'

'So they want this one?' Rose asked.

'Not yet,' Elizabeth told her. 'It's far too primitive. Zygons are used to a certain level of comfort.' She had managed to convince the Zygons that she was the Commander, and had asked them to report on their status.

It didn't take her long to work out what they were up to, as the use of spies, espionage, and political intrigue were well known to any monarch.

A big red rubbery thing covered in suckers approached Elizabeth. 'Commander, why are these creatures here?'

'Because I say they should be. It is time you too were translated. Observe this. I believe you will find it fascinating.'

The Zygon put his hand on a glass cube with dents in the corners, then vanished. The 3D landscape painting from the Under Gallery was nearby.

'That's him! That's the Zygon in the picture now,' Clara told them. She had seen the empty painting when they had been in the Under Gallery.

'It's not a picture,' the old Doctor explained. 'it's a stasis cube. Time Lord art. Frozen instants in time, bigger on the inside, but could be deployed as . . .'

'Suspended animation,' the Doctor finished for him. 'Oh, that's very good. The Zygons all pop inside the pictures, wait a few centuries till the planet's a bit more interesting, and then out they come.'

Eleven continued the explanation for Clara and Rose. 'You see, they're stored in the paintings in the Under Gallery, like cup-a-soups. Except you add time, if you can picture that.' Rose and Clara just looked at him as though they had dribbled down their leather jackets. 'Nobody could picture that. Forget I said cup-a-soups.'

'And now the world is worth conquering,' Rose said.

'So the Zygons are invading the future from the past,' Clara added.

'Exactly,; Eleven said.

The Doctor went up to what he thought was the Zygon Commander Elizabeth. 'And do you know why I know that you're a fake? Because you're such a bad copy. It's not just the smell, or the unconvincing hair, or the atrocious teeth, or the eyes just a bit too close together, or the breath that could stun a horse. It's because our Elizabeth, the real Elizabeth, would never be stupid enough to reveal her own plan. Honestly, why would you do that?'

'Because it's not my plan. And I am the real Elizabeth.'

Rose snorted a laugh. Oh she SO loved his runaway gob.

The Doctor gulped. 'Okay. So, backtracking a moment just to lend context to my earlier remarks.'

Elizabeth interrupted him. 'My twin is dead in the forest. I am accustomed to taking precautions.' She produced a dagger from the garter beneath her skirts. 'These Zygon creatures never even considered that it was me who survived rather than their own commander. The arrogance that typifies their kind.'

'Zygons?' Clara asked.

'Men.'

Rose grinned at her. 'And you actually killed one of them?'

'I may have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but at the time, so did the Zygon. The future of my kingdom is imperilled. Doctor, can I rely on your service?'

'Well, I'm going to need my TARDIS,' he told her.

'It has been procured already.'

'Ah,' he said.

'But first, my Lord Doctor and Mistress Rose, you have a promise to keep, and I have a duty to perform.' they both gave her a quizzical look.

In the Tower courtyard, where Eleven and Clara had been a few hours ago, and five hundred years later, Elizabeth sat on a throne. In front of her were two knighting stools, and the ceremonial sword.

'Can we be knighted twice?' Rose whispered to her husband.

'If anybody can, we can,' he said with a grin.

Elizabeth stood and picked up the sword. 'My Lord Doctor, Mistress Rose. Approach and kneel before your Queen.'

They walked forward and knelt on the stools. Elizabeth touched the Doctor's right then left shoulder with the tip of the sword, and then did the same for Rose.

'Advances Chevalier au nom de Dieu,' Elizabeth said, and gestured for them to rise. She then kissed the Doctor on each cheek, before kissing Rose on each cheek, and then pulling them into a group hug.

'Is there a lot of this in the future?' the old Doctor asked Eleven,

'What, the knighting or the kissing?' Clara asked with a cheeky smile.

'Well, both of them actually,' Eleven said. 'It does start to happen, yeah.'

'God speed, my Lord,' Elizabeth said.

'We will be right back,' he told her.

'Actually,' Eleven said with a wicked smile. 'There is one more thing your Majesty.'

'Oh? And prey tell, what is that?'

He looked at Clara and raised his eyebrows. 'In the National Gallery, concealing the entrance to the Under Gallery, is a painting of your Majesty, with the Lord Doctor and Mistress Rose at your side.'

'Ooh, immortalised in oil,' the Doctor said with a smile and straightening his tie.

'You weren't dressed like that though,' Clara said. 'You were dressed like William Shakespeare. You know, in doublet and hose, and wearing a ruff.'

The Doctor looked decidedly unhappy, as Rose had a fit of the giggles.

* * *

'Right then, back to the future,' Eleven said as he entered the TARDIS behind the Doctor.

'You've let this place go a bit,' the old Doctor said, looking up at the arched ceiling.

'Ah, it's his grunge phase,' Eleven told him, tossing a stasis cube in the air before catching it again. 'He grows out of it.'

The Doctor stroked the Time Rotor. 'Don't you listen to them.' An alarm sounded and the Doctor got an electric shock. 'Ow! The desktop is glitching.'

'Three of us from different time zones. It's trying to compensate,' the old Doctor realised.

Eleventh looked around the morphed room. 'Hey, look. The round things.'

'I love the round things,' the Doctor admitted.

'What are the round things?' Eleven asked him.

'No idea.'

Eleven went up to the console and checked the settings. 'Oh dear, the friction contrafibulator. Ha! There, stabilised.' The console room changed to the Eleventh Doctor's configuration.

'Oh, you've redecorated,' the Doctor said, looking around and pulling a face. 'I don't like it.'

'Oh. Oh yeah? Oh, you never do. Listen, we're going to the National Gallery. The Zygons are underneath it.'

'NO!' Clara shouted. 'UNIT HQ. They followed us there in the Black Archive.'

The three Doctors stared at her without speaking.

'Okay, so you've heard of that, then.'

'What's the Black Archive?' Rose asked.

'It's where UNIT keep everything that they shouldn't keep,' the Doctor told her.

Eleven fired up the Time Rotor and set the coordinates for four hundred and fifty one years later. He adjusted more controls, and they heard voices through the speaker.

['There's a nuclear warhead twenty feet beneath us. Are you sitting comfortably?'] the woman they had heard through the fissure said.

['You would destroy London?'] she seemed to ask herself.

['To save the world, yes, I would.'] she answered herself.

['You're bluffing.']

['You really think so? Somewhere in your memory is a man called Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart. I am his daughter.']

'Science leads, Kate. Is that what you meant? Is that what your father meant?' Eleven asked her.

['Doctor?']

'Space-Time Telegraph, Kate. A gift from me to your father, hotline straight to the TARDIS. I know about the Black Archive and I know about the security protocol. Kate, please. Please tell me you are not about to do something unbelievably stupid.'

['I'm sorry, Doctor. Switch it off.']

'Not as sorry as you will be,' the Doctor told her. 'This is not a decision you will ever be able to live with.'

'Kate, we're trying to bring the TARDIS in. Why can't we land?' Eleven asked her.

['I said, switch it off.']

'No, Kate, please. Just listen to me!'

'The Tower of London, totally TARDIS-proof' the Doctor said.

'How can they do that?' Rose asked him.

Eleven answered for him. 'Alien technology plus human stupidity. Trust me, it's unbeatable.'

The old Doctor looked at the stasis cube Eleven had left on the console. 'We don't need to land.'

'Yeah, we do. A tiny bit. Try and keep up,' the Doctor said. He presumed it was his age.

'No, we don't. We don't. There is another way,' he said, picking up the glass cube. 'Cup-a-soup. What is cup-a-soup?'

The Doctor and Eleven looked at him, and their eyebrows raised in unison as they saw him holding the stasis cube. 'Oh, that is brilliant!' the Doctor said. Maybe it wasn't his age after all.

'What's brilliant?' Rose asked.

'You'll see,' the Doctor said with a grin. 'I've been to your home planet often enough . . . fancy a visit to mine?'

Eleven adjusted the Time Rotor to take the TARDIS back to when he and Clara had first entered the Under Gallery, before opening the door and taking out the phone out of it's box on the other door.

'Take a look at your phone and confirm who you're talking to,' he said to McGillop, one of Kate Stewart's staff.

['But that's not possible. I was just . . .']

'You were just talking to me. I know. I'm a time traveller, figure it out. I need you to send the Gallifrey Falls painting to the Black Archive. Understood?'

['Understood, sir. But why would I take it there?']

'What's your security level clearance?'

['Ten, sir.']

'Ah, well, this is eleven.'

Inside the Black Archive, there was an explosion from the Gallifrey Falls painting, and a wrecked Dalek fell onto the floor.

'Hello,' the old Doctor said.

'I'm the Doctor,' the Doctor announced.

'Sorry about the Dalek,' said Eleven.

'Also the showing off,' Clara said, as she and Rose stepped out of the painting.

'Oh he's good at that,' Rose said with a grin.

'Kate Lethbridge Stewart, what in the name of sanity are you doing?' Eleven asked one of the Kate's.

'The countdown can only be halted at my personal command. There's nothing you can do,' the other one said defiantly.

'Except make you both agree to halt it,' the Doctor told her.

'Not even three of you,' said Kate.

'You're about to murder millions of people,' the old Doctor said.

'To save billions,' she explained. 'How many times have you made that calculation?'

'Once,' Eleven said sadly. 'Turned me into the man I am now. I'm not even sure who that is any more.'

The Doctor had a go. 'You tell yourself it's justified, but it's a lie. Because what I did that day was wrong . . . Just wrong.'

The old Doctor turned to look at Rose and Clara, but once again, Rose got that odd feeling that he was looking at someone behind her. She looked over her shoulder, but there was no one there.

'And, because I got it wrong, I'm going to make you get it right,' Eleven said, as he and the Doctor wheeled chairs to the end of the table. They sat down together. They put their feet up on the table together, and they crossed their arms, together.

'How?' Kate asked.

The Doctor answered first. 'Any second now, you're going to stop that countdown. Both of you, together.'

'Then you're going to negotiate the most perfect treaty of all time,' Eleven declared.

The Doctor looked at Eleven as he spoke. 'Safeguards all round, completely fair on both sides.'

'And the key to perfect negotiation?' Eleven asked.

'Not knowing what side you're on,' the Doctor concluded.

They pushed themselves away from the table with their feet and stood up, together, and took their sonic screwdrivers out of their pockets.

'So, for the next few hours, until we decide to let you out . . .' Eleven started.

'No one in this room will be able to remember if they're human . . .' the Doctor continued.

'Or Zygon,' Eleven concluded.

The Doctor jumped up onto the table. 'Whoops . . .'

Eleven joined him. '. . . A daisy.'

The three Doctors pointed their sonic screwdrivers at the memory filter in the ceiling. The countdown reached seven as the humans looked befuddled. The two Kates looked at each other, no longer certain if the bomb going off was an advantage, or if it would ruin their day.

'CANCEL THE DETONATION!' the two Kates shouted together, seeing the counter on five.

'Peace in our time,' Eleven said.

'Time for a cup of tea,' Rose said with a broad smile. 'Fancy givin' me a hand?' she said to Clara.

'Tea?' Clara couldn't believe it. There was this gorgeous blonde in a sexy leather outfit, offering to make tea like a Stepford Wife. 'Is that what a Time Lord Wife does, make tea?'

'My mum used to swear by a cuppa tea in a crisis. Probably still does in that parallel universe of hers.' That got her thinking about her mum again, and she was momentarily distracted as they made their way to the small kitchen area. 'Where was I? Oh yeah, cuppa tea. You can save the world with a cuppa.'

Clara laughed politely as she filled the kettle. Rose could see she didn't believe her.

'Seriously. That one Christmas, how long ago was it now? Six or seven years ago. I lose track in the TARDIS.'

'I know what you mean,' Clara agreed.

'So, anyway. There we were in that asteroid space ship hovering over London. You've got people on rooftops, waiting to jump off . . .'

'I remember that!' Clara told her.

'And his lordship there fast asleep and no use to man nor beast.'

'Asleep?'

'Yeah. Bad regeneration.'

'So what happened?'

'A flask of tea my mum had made, spilt and dripped through the floor grating into the electrics. The tea vaporised, and he inhaled the vapour, woke up, and saved the day.'

They made the drinks, and handed them out to the people in the room. Rose and Clara looked at the gallery of photographs pinned to a board. 'Oh look, there you are,' Clara said.

'Wha? When was that taken?' Rose asked.

Clara looked closely at the information attached. 'It says April 2007.'

Rose thought about that date. '2007? 2007, April? What was I doin' then?' She then realised. 'Deffry Vale High School! We were stayin' at the flat with mum, while the Doctor investigated the teachin' staff. Oh look, there's Sarah Jane. And this one, that's Mickey, and here's Martha and Donna.' It was like a time traveller's Facebook, and she wondered if any of the photographs were of people who would come after her.

Clara went over to the old Doctor, who was sitting in the seventh Doctor's big leather chair, while Rose went to talk to her husband and Eleven.

'Hello,' Clara said.

The old Doctor looked up. 'Hello.'

'I'm Clara. We haven't really met yet.'

'I look forward to it.' He could see that something was troubling her. 'Is there a problem?'

'The Doctor, my, my Doctor, he's always talking about the day he did it. The day he wiped out the Time Lords to stop the war.'

'One would,' he agreed.

'You wouldn't. Because you haven't done it yet. It's still in your future.'

'You're very sure of yourself.'

'He regrets it. I see it in his eyes every day. He'd do anything to change it.'

'Including saving all these people. How many worlds has his regret saved, do you think? Look over there. Humans and Zygons working together in peace.' He wondered how she knew he hadn't destroyed Gallifrey yet. 'How did you know?'

'Your eyes. You're so much younger.'

'Then, all things considered, it's time I grew up. I've seen all I needed. The moment has come. I'm ready,' he said to someone behind her.

['I know you are.']

'Who's there? Who were you talking to?'

Rose smiled at Eleven. 'Your tea all right?' she asked as an opening gambit.

'Lovely. You always did make a nice cup of tea.'

'When was that? Two hundred years ago?'

'Now, now, Rose. You know I can't talk about it?'

'Yeah, I know. You can't tell me when I die, or how . . . or where. But you can answer me this. Was he happy?' she said, nodding to the Doctor. 'Were you happy?'

He cupped her face with his hand and rubbed her cheek with his thumb in a way that was so familiar to her. 'That is such a Rose question. Yes, we had a wonderful, happy marriage . . . my Love.'

She reached up and pulled him gently into a kiss. 'For old times sake,' she said with a loving smile.

It had been two centuries since he had kissed her, and he had missed her every single day. 'Thank you,' he said quietly.

'Hey guys!' Clara called out. 'The old guy's disappeared.'

* * *

In the old barn on Gallifrey, a red, rose-like, ruby button stood on a stalk above the clockwork box that was the Moment.

['You wanted a big red button,'] the Moment reminded him. ['One big bang, no more Time Lords. No more Daleks. Are you sure?']

'I was sure when I came in here. There is no other way.'

['You've seen the men you will become.']

'Those men . .? Extraordinary.'

['They were you.']

'No. They are the Doctor.'

['You're the Doctor, too.']

'No. Great men are forged in fire. It is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame, whatever the cost.' His hand hesitated over the button as he recalled the sound of children's laughter.

['You know the sound the Tardis makes? That wheezing, groaning. That sound brings hope wherever it goes.']

'Yes . . . Yes, I like to think it does.'

['To anyone who hears it, Doctor. Anyone, however lost.']

The barn filled with the sound of the Time Rotor. ['Even you.']

Two TARDISes parked themselves in the barn, and the Doctors, Rose, and Clara stepped out.

'I told you. He hasn't done it yet,' Clara said.

'Go away now, all of you. This is for me,' the old Doctor told them.

'These events should be time-locked. We shouldn't even be here,' the Doctor said.

'So something let us through,' Eleven reasoned.

['You clever boys'] the Moment said.

Rose looked in the Moment's direction. 'Did you hear somethin' then?'

'Go back,' the old Doctor pleaded before anyone could answer Rose. 'Go back to your lives. Go and be the Doctor that I could never be. Make it worthwhile.'

'All those years, burying you in my memory,' the Doctor said.

'Pretending you didn't exist. Keeping you a secret, even from myself,' Eleven agreed.

'Pretending you weren't the Doctor, when you were the Doctor more than anybody else, said the Doctor.

Eleven looked at the old Doctor. 'You were the Doctor on the day it wasn't possible to get it right.'

The Doctor stood one side of the old warrior. 'But this time . . .'

'. . . You don't have to do it alone,' Eleven said, standing the other side. They placed their hands on the button together.

The old Doctor was choked with emotion. 'Thank you.'

'What we do today is not out of fear or hatred. It is done because there is no other way,' the Doctor told him. He looked at Rose and saw she had tears rolling down her cheeks. He could feel what she was thinking. She was remembering Pompeii, the moment in the escape pod when they had set off the volcano.

'And it is done in the name of the many live we are failing to save,' Eleven announced. He looked at Clara, and saw her shaking her head. 'What? What is it? What?'

'Nothing,' she lied.

'No, it's something . . . Tell me.'

'You told me you wiped out your own people. I just . . . I never pictured you doing it, that's all.' Rose reached over and rubbed her arm in an attempt to comfort her.

['Take a closer look,'] the Moment said.

'At what?' Rose asked, having heard her own voice. She presumed it was some time travelling malarkey that she would become aware of at a later date.

It suddenly went dark. 'What's happening?' Clara asked in alarm.

'Nothing,' the old Doctor told her. 'It's a projection.'

['It's a reality around you,'] the Moment told the old Doctor, as they looked at the city of Arcadia on Gallifrey. The citizens were running around them, fleeing for their lives as the city fell to the Daleks. Not realising that there would be nowhere to run.

'These are the people you're going to burn?' Clara asked them.

'Clara, don't!' Rose warned her. It was exactly the same as Donna in Pompeii. It had already happened. End of!

'There isn't anything we can do,' the Doctor told Clara.

Eleven nodded 'He's right. There isn't another way. There never was. Either I destroy my own people or let the universe burn.'

'Look at you,' Clara said sadly. 'The three of you. The warrior . . . the hero, and you.'

'And what am I?' Eleven asked her.

'Have you really forgotten?'

Eleven knew he wasn't the Doctor he used to be. 'Yes . . . Maybe, yes.'

'We've got enough warriors,' Clara said, looking at the old Doctor. 'Any old idiot can be a hero,' she said, looking at the Doctor.

'Then what do I do?' Eleven asked.

'What you've always done. Be a doctor. You told me the name you chose was a promise. What was the promise?'

The sounds of battle faded as the Doctor answered her. 'Never cruel or cowardly.'

'Never give up, never give in,' the old Doctor finished.

Suddenly, they were back in the barn. The Doctor frowned at Eleven. 'You're not actually suggesting that we change our own personal history?'

'We change history all the time. I'm suggesting far worse,' Eleven replied.

'What, exactly?' the old Doctor asked.

'Gentlemen, I have had four hundred years to think about this,' Eleven told them. 'I've changed my mind.' He sonicked the big red button back into the Moment box.

'Wha?' Rose asked, incredulous. 'If he can do that, then what about Pompeii? What about my father?'

The Doctor put a comforting arm around her shoulders. 'Those events were history for us before we even went there. Here, now, at this very moment, there is one of us for which it hasn't happened yet. We are in his time line, and it will be his actions that determine future events.'

The old Doctor pointed out a slight problem. 'There's still a billion billion Daleks up there, attacking.'

'Yeah, there is . . . There is,' Eleven agreed.

'But there's something those billion billion Daleks don't know,' the Doctor informed them.

Eleven continued to think out loud. 'Because if they did, they'd probably send for reinforcements,'

'What?' Clara asked.

'What don't they know?' Rose enquired.

Eleven grinned at them. 'This time, there's three of us.'

The old Doctor clasped his hands to his head. 'Oh! Oh, yes, that is good. That is brilliant!'

'Oh, oh, oh, I'm getting that too! That is brilliant!' the Doctor exclaimed.

'Oh my God!' Rose said, picking up her husband's thoughts. 'You are kiddin' me.'

'Ha, ha, ha! I've been thinking about it for centuries,' Eleven declared.

'She didn't just show me any old future, she showed me exactly the future I needed to see,' the old Doctor said.

['Now you're getting it,'] the Moment said.

'Eh?' Eleven asked. 'Who did?'

'She did,' Rose said, thinking that she was talking about her future self sitting on a crate, and frankly wearing an odd outfit. She couldn't wait to see what all that was about.

The old Doctor was looking up to the ceiling. 'Oh, Bad Wolf girl, I could kiss you.'

['Yeah, that's going to happen.']

'Bad Wolf?' Rose said, looking at her other self with a frown.

The Doctor frowned as well. 'Sorry, did you just say Bad Wolf?'

'So what are we doing? What's the plan?' Clara asked, not being telepathic.

The old Doctor started to explain. 'The Dalek fleets are surrounding Gallifrey, firing on it constantly.'

'The Sky Trench is holding, but what if the whole planet just disappeared?' the Doctor continued.

'Tiny bit of an ask,' Clara said doubtfully.

But the Doctor continued his explanation. 'The Daleks would be firing on each other. They'd destroy themselves in their own crossfire.'

'Gallifrey would be gone, the Daleks would be destroyed, and it would look to the rest of the universe as if they'd annihilated each other,' the old Doctor concluded.

Rose then understood. 'And the timeline continues as it should, living a little white lie.'

'But where would Gallifrey be?' Clara asked.

The Doctor pinched his finger and thumb together. 'Frozen . . . Frozen in an instant of time, safe and hidden away.'

Eleven pointed at him. 'Exactly.'

'Like a painting,' the old Doctor said.

* * *

Rose and the Doctor were at the console of the TARDIS, when they heard Eleven call the War Room on Gallifrey.

['Hello, hello, Gallifrey High Command, this is the Doctor speaking.']

'Hello! Also the Doctor. Can you hear me?' he said to the screen.

They heard the gravelly tones of the old Doctor. ['Also the Doctor, standing ready.']

['Dear God, three of them. All my worst nightmares at once,'] a man said in the War Room.

'General, we have a plan,' the Doctor said.

['We should point at this moment; it is a fairly terrible plan,'] Eleven explained.

'And almost certainly won't work,' the Doctor confessed.

['I was happy with fairly terrible.'] Eleven complained.

'Sorry, just thinking out loud,' the Doctor said as Rose giggled.

['We're flying our three TARDISes into your lower ATMOSphere,'] Eleven explained.

'We're positioned at equidistant intervals around the globe,' the Doctor added.

'Ooh, equidistant. Listen to you using grown up words,' Rose teased.

['We're just about ready to do it,'] The old Doctor told the General.

['Ready to do what?']

['We're going to freeze Gallifrey,'] Eleven told him.

They saw the General frown on the screen. ['I'm sorry, what?']

'Using our TARDISes, we're going to freeze Gallifrey in a single moment in time,' the Doctor announced.

The old Doctor cut in. ['You know, like those stasis cubes? A single moment in time, held in a parallel pocket universe.']

['Except we're going to do it to a whole planet,'] Eleven said.

'And all the people on it,' the Doctor added.

['What? Even if that were possible, which it isn't, why would you do such a thing?'] The General asked them.

Eleven responded to that question. ['Because the alternative is burning.']

'And I've seen that,' the Doctor told him.

['And I never want to see it again'] Eleven declared.

['We'd be lost in another universe, frozen in a single moment. We'd have nothing.']

Oh how wrong he was. They would have that which the Doctor prized the most. ['You would have hope. And right now, that is exactly what you don't have.] Eleven said.

['It's delusional. The calculations alone would take hundreds of years.']

['Oh, hundreds and hundreds,'] Eleven agreed.

'But don't worry,' the Doctor said. 'I started a very long time ago.'

A silver haired old man appeared on the console screen. ['Calling the War Council of Gallifrey. This is the Doctor.']

'Who's that?' Rose asked.

The Doctor squinted at the screen. 'Oh, that's me in my first body.'

['You might say I've been doing this all my lives,'] Eleven said.

More Doctors started appearing on the screen. ['Good luck,'] Two said.

['Standing by,'] said Three.

Four's face appeared. ['Ready.']

['Commencing calculations,'] Eight told them.

'Ooh, he's a bit of all right,' Rose said with her tongue between her teeth smile.

['Soon be there,'] Five said.

'Oh, and blonde! I never knew you were blonde. You never said.'

'Welllll, it never really came up, did it?'

The seventh Doctor appeared on the screen. ['Across the boundaries that divide one universe from another.']

['Just got to lock on to his coordinates,]' Six said.

'Oh, and another blonde,' Rose said, enjoying seeing all his previous faces.

And then a face appeared that she knew so well. ['And for my next trick,'] a northern voice said.

'Oh it's you,' Rose said with a warm smile.

'They're all me,' he reminded her.

'Yeah, but you know what I mean.

['I didn't know when I was well off. All twelve of them!'] The General said.

['No, sir. All thirteen!'] the General's aide called out, as a new face appeared on the screen.

'Who the hell is that?' Rose asked.

'I have absolutely no idea,' the Doctor told her.

['Sir! The Daleks know that something is happening. They're increasing their fire power,'] the aide told his commanding officer.

The General considered his options, and realised there weren't any. ['Do it, Doctor. Just do it.']

['Okay. Gentlemen, we're ready,'] Eleven said. '[Geronimo!']

The Doctor took Rose's hand and held it on the lever, covering it with his own. 'Allons-y!' he called out and they pulled down the lever.

['Oh, for God's sake,'] they heard the old Doctor groan, which made them laugh out loud. ['Gallifrey stands!']

'Oh that was good,' Rose said with a smile.

 **The National Gallery.**

 **London.**

'I don't suppose we'll know if we actually succeeded. But at worst, we failed doing the right thing, as opposed to succeeding in doing the wrong,' the old Doctor said, taking a sip of tea.

'Life and soul, you are,' Clara said jokingly.

The Doctor had his brainy specs on, looking at the three dimensional painting with Rose. 'What is it actually called?' he asked Eleven.

'Well, there's some debate. Either No More or Gallifrey Falls.'

'Not very encouraging,' the old Doctor said.

'How did it get here?' Rose asked.

'No idea' Eleven told her.

'There's always something we don't know, isn't there?' The Doctor said, taking a sip of his tea.

The old Doctor nodded in agreement. 'One should certainly hope so. Well, gentlemen, it has been an honour and a privilege,' he said, putting his empty cup down.

'Likewise,' the said Doctor, nodding to him.

Eleven nodded also. 'Doctor.'

'And if I grow to be half the man that you two are . . .' he said, turning to face the ladies. '. . . Rose Tyler and Clara Oswald, I shall be happy indeed.'

'That's right. Aim high,' Clara said, kissing him on the cheek.

Rose kissed his cheek. 'Actually, Tyler's my maiden name. My married name is Lungbarrowmas.'

He looked back to Rose and kissed her hand. 'Oh of course it is. I look forward to meeting you again.' He turned to the two Doctors. 'I won't remember this, will I?'

Eleven shook his head. 'The time streams are out of sync. You can't retain it, no.'

'So I won't remember that I tried to save Gallifrey rather than burn it. I'll have to live with that. But for now, for this moment, I am the Doctor again. Thank you.' He looked at the row of three TARDISes. 'Which one is mine?' he asked and then spotted it. 'Ha!'

He stepped into the shabbiest TARDIS, and a few seconds later, it dematerialised.

'We won't remember either,' the Doctor said, taking off his specs and putting his arm around Rose's shoulders. 'So you might as well tell me.'

'Tell you what?' Eleven asked with a frown.

'Where it is we're going that you don't want to talk about.'

'I saw Trenzalore . . . where we're buried . . . We die in battle among millions.'

Rose gasped and put her arm around her husband's waist.

'That's not how it's supposed to be,' the Doctor said.

'That's how the story ends. Nothing we can do about it. Trenzalore is where you're going.'

'Oh, never say nothing,' the Doctor said with a smile, holding out his hand to shake Eleven's. 'Anyway, good to know my future is in safe hands.'

Rose kissed Eleven on the cheek. 'I'm wonderin' if I've got to get used to that face or not.'

'You'll see,' he said with a smile. 'Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise.'

She gave a single laugh. 'Y'know, I've just had a thought. I bet Time Lord family photo albums are a riot.'

They all laughed at that thought. 'You have no idea,' the Doctor laughed. He turned to Clara. 'Keep a tight hold on it, Clara.'

'On it,' she replied as he took her hand and kissed it.

Rose kissed her on the cheek. 'Nice to meet you Clara. You look after him, yeah?'

'You too.'

Rose stepped inside their TARDIS, and the Doctor paused in the doorway. 'Trenzalore. We need a new destination, because . . . I don't want to go.' He turned and stepped into the TARDIS, closing the door on his future self and his companion, and travelling on into his own future with his wife and eventually, with their child.

 **The End.**


End file.
